Molly O’ReillyAmerica Walks

Killing Portland Oregon’s Proposed Western Bypass

Freeway, 1989-1995

A Tiny Group – A Big Victory

Tiny Group – Big Victory

How does a very small group of citizens defeat the Oregon Department of Transportation?

We had good luck!

We worked hard and smart!

A Strategy with Many Fronts

We listened and learned• What concerns people?• What did bureaucracies want, and say?• Strengths and vulnerabilities of the

Bypass proposal?• Language: transpo-speak vs. citizen-

speak• Where and how can we affect the

outcome?

We Were Everywhere

Reinterpreted ODOT’s numbers• The study didn’t really say the Bypass

would accomplish very much, long term Joined every committee

• Citizens Advisory Committee, METRO, etc.

Reframed the issue• Broadened question to include our

answers

We took our story to community meetings

Visual Preference Surveys Congestion would expand to the

metro perimeter Solutions?

• New light rail lines, TODs

“If Freeways were theanswer, Los Angeles would be paradise”

Congestion and Vehicle Use: LUTRAQvs. The Western Bypass.

Moving the Process

Demanded one EIS for a 3-stage project

Served on the ODOT Citizens Advisory Committee

Served on METRO’s Transportation Policy Alternatives Committee (TPAC)

Became neighborhood association officers

Monitored City, County meetings

Being Effective

Show up prepared• Read all materials • Identify areas where your issue can be

inserted/deleted Be nimble; opportunities pop up! Reframe and put your reframing

forward Build partnerships, the broader and

unlikelier the better• Use volunteer strengths and interests

Well?

We split the alliance. We gave powerful Bypass opponents

options to work for, and political cover to oppose the project.

We did the grunt-work to take the Bypass out of the METRO Transportation Plan.

We declared victory; no bypass built.

Contact Information

Molly O’ReillyAmerica Walks

moreilly@americawalks.org208-255-7336