The Oregon Department of Transportation doubly violated federal law by not only refusing to study cost-effective alternatives as part of its plan to double the width of Interstate 5, but also not being transparent with the public about the impacts of the plan, according to court papers filed in a new suit against the project.
It’s the second lawsuit seeking to halt the so-called Rose Quarter Improvement Project, which the state says will “improve safety and congestion,” but amounts to an expansion of a freeway that runs through a predominantly Black neighborhood.
Advocates want the agency to conduct a full Environmental Impact Statement that more deeply analyzes the climate and air pollution impacts of the proposed freeway widening than the less-rigorous environmental assessment that the FHWA approved in March.
The goal of the suit is to force the state to assess “the direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of proposed actions” and to get ODOT to consider traffic-reduction methods such as congestion pricing, transit alternatives, or narrowing the right-of-way which were left out of the approved environmental assessment.
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“This lawsuit is our community’s opportunity to prevent ODOT from shoving all the air pollution and traffic that an expanded freeway brings through the recovering Albina neighborhood,” Chris Smith, co-founder of No More Freeways, said in a statement.
Albina, one of Portland’s oldest Black neighborhoods, is still reeling from the urban renewal that came with the construction of Interstate 5 in the 1950s and ’60s. Hundreds of Black families, businesses, and churches were displaced to make way for the highway, according to the Rose Quarter project page. The current improvement project is supposed to help rectify some of the damage by capping highways and reconnecting this neighborhood with the rest of the city.
But advocates say capping highways while also widening them only puts residents at more risk of the impacts of climate change, as widening highways can lead to worsening air quality.
“Every dollar we put into freeway widening is a wasted dollar that could go into reducing carbon or providing sustainable mobility some other way,” said Smith.
The $1.9-billion Rose Quarter project is just part of a larger grouping of highway plans that include I-205 Abernethy Bridge Project, the OR 217 Auxiliary Lanes and Hall Blvd Bike/Ped Crossing Project, the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program, and the I-5 Boone Bridge Replacement Project, according to the project page.
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Recently, the federal DOT, through its Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods program, awarded the Rose Quarter Project $450 million to build highway caps and create safer streets over the existing highway facility in Albina. Advocates say adding things like auxiliary lanes goes against DOT’s instructions for how Reconnecting Communities funds should be used.
“Projects receiving Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods grant funding cannot be used for additional through travel lanes for single-occupant passenger vehicles or highway expansion,” according to the award letter. As reported by Streetsblog, Auxiliary lanes can be a shorthand for widening lanes, ultimately adding more vehicles on the road.
No More Freeways and other organizations are happy with RCN funds going towards the highway caps, but ODOT also asked for an additional $750 million in infrastructure grant which Smith said would be used for both the caps and highway widening efforts. To make matters worse, U.S. DOT has already earmarked that grant application as “highly recommended.”
“You should not be extending the halo of ‘highly recommended’ for reconnecting communities and neighborhood [funds] to the widening portions of this project, because widening it is exactly the opposite of what reconnected communities is about,” Smith said.
This is the second lawsuit advocates have filed this year against the interstate project. In May, community advocates sued alleging that no congestion pricing or transportation demand management plan was included in the approved improvements project, nor were either “analyses” included in the Environmental Assessment, that was approved by Federal Highway Administration in May.
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Lawsuits can take time to be settled. In the meantime, Smith hopes that advocates connect the dots around ill-fated highway redesigns that can add more cars on the road.
“I’d love to see [advocates] start to win some test cases and establish law so we don’t have to fight the same questions on every single freeway widening project,” Smith said, adding that to do that residents also need comes to terms with the fact that “we’re just not going to meet our climate goals without driving less.”
The University of Oregon’s Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to approve a $1.55 billion operating budget for the next fiscal year.
But they asked university leadership to return with an amended proposal by Dec. 15, when more details about future budget cuts will be known.
FILE — The Board of Trustees recently approved next year’s budget for the University of Oregon. The vote comes several weeks after the school’s president announced that he wants the university to reduce its annual budget as revenues and out-of-state enrollment decline.
Brian Bull / KLCC
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The vote comes several weeks after University of Oregon President Karl Scholz announced that he wants the school to reduce its annual budget by around $65 million.
At a trustees meeting Monday, Scholz said the estimated budget shortfall for next year is just around $23 million. But he said out-of-state enrollment is below historical norms for the second year in a row, and it’s unlikely to bounce back.
“One year can be an aberration. Two years is a pattern,” said Scholz. “And I believe we have to treat it as a new reality.”
Scholz said in May that discussions about the budget would happen over a six-month period. He said no final decisions about cuts would be made over this summer.
On Monday, UO Senate President Dyana Mason told trustees that the Senate had approved a new process to allow for community feedback in the cost-cutting process.
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Mason said the provost will work with the deans on budget proposals, finding “clear rationale” for why programs are considered for elimination.
The provost would then bring those proposals to the Senate Committee for Academic Modifications—which includes staff, faculty and students—for feedback.
Once the plans are nearly finalized, the Senate could then hold a period for public comment.
Mason told trustees that a six-month timeline is better than the three months that frustrated some staff last year, but she recommended taking however much time is necessary.
“The worst situation would be rushing forward to make decisions without appropriate evidence, data, feedback from the people that are most in the know about the impact on our students,” said Mason.
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UO’s Board of Trustees Chair Steve Holwerda said that every week that university delays the decisions could cost them millions of dollars.
Nathan Wilk is a reporter with the KLCC newsroom.This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
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Oregon’s juvenile justice system has been reshaped in recent years by a sweeping reform law that changed how the state handles minors accused of serious crimes.
Senate Bill 1008, which took effect in 2020, ended automatic transfers of juveniles into adult court and eliminated life without parole sentences for juveniles. The law also created “second-look” hearings and established parole eligibility after 15 years for certain offenders who committed crimes before turning 18.
To help explain the law and its impact, KVAL’s Frannie Pedersen put together a timeline video tracing the history of Senate Bill 1008, from the passage of Measure 11 in 1994 to the reforms that later reshaped Oregon’s juvenile justice system.
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The video breaks down how the law changed, why lawmakers pushed for reform, and how SB 1008 continues to influence Oregon’s justice system today. Viewers can watch the full video for a detailed timeline and explanation of the changes.
PORTLAND, Ore. — A New Jersey man was sentenced to federal prison last Friday for conspiring to distribute fentanyl, announced U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford for the District of Oregon.
Mark T. Eager, 34, was sentenced to 135 months in federal prison and five years of supervised release.
“This defendant showed a blatant disregard for human life by trafficking fentanyl across the United States,” said U.S. Attorney Bradford. “My office will continue to pursue those who profit from poisoning our communities, and we will use every available resource and partnership to combat fentanyl trafficking and keep Oregonians safe.”
“This investigation brought together law enforcement agencies from across the nation,” said Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Seattle acting Special Agent in Charge April Miller. “Homeland Security Investigations special agents from Portland, Newark, and Houston contributed to the case, along with the Portland Police Bureau and HIDTA HIT officers, who were instrumental in identifying Eager. His 11-year sentence sends a clear message: no matter where you are in the country or the world, if you attempt to sell narcotics online to Americans, we will find you.”
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“Fentanyl trafficking poses a grave threat to communities across the United States, and Homeland Security Investigations is committed to working with our partners to disrupt and dismantle the criminal networks responsible,” said HSI Houston Special Agent in Charge Lucia Cabral-DeArmas. “This case demonstrates the power of interagency collaboration under the Homeland Security Task Force initiative, leveraging resources from across the country to hold traffickers accountable and protect the American people. We will continue to pursue those who endanger lives through the distribution of dangerous synthetic opioids, and we remain steadfast in our mission to safeguard our communities from the violence and instability caused by transnational criminal organizations.”
“By following this offender’s digital trail, Homeland Security Investigations and our law enforcement partners nationwide executed federal search warrants, dismantled an active dark web fentanyl packaging operation and recovered deadly amounts of fentanyl, thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency, and a trove of electronic devices and packaging materials,” said HSI Newark Acting Special Agent in Charge Spiros Karabinas. “This case is a powerful example of how coordinated, data-driven investigations can disrupt dangerous networks and help protect our communities from lethal synthetic opioids.”
According to court documents, from November 2023 through June 2024, Eager and his co-conspirator sold fentanyl on the Dark Net and Telegram. Eager operated as the vendor WRSEH10 and marketed the fentanyl as “China White Synthetic Heroin.”
In June 2024, HSI agents executed search warrants on two residences associated with Eager in Kearny, New Jersey, and seized over 360 grams of powdered fentanyl, counterfeit M30 pills, drug ledgers, cellular phones, two computers, and drug packaging consistent with three deliveries that were sent to Oregon.
On September 4, 2024, a federal grand jury in Portland returned a four-count indictment charging Eager with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl and distribution of fentanyl.
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On February 4, 2026, Eager pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl.
HSI Portland and HSI Houston investigated this case with assistance from HSI Newark, the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) and the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Interdiction Task Force (HIT). Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Kerin prosecuted the case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey assisted the U.S. Attorney’s in Oregon in obtaining the search warrants that were executed in Kearny.
