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.

“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.

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.

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.”

WASHINGTON — The remains of a missing World War II soldier from Oregon have been identified and are set to return to the state for burial, federal authorities announced Thursday.

The remains of U.S. Army Private William Calkins were identified after being exhumed along with other unknown soldiers buried at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines, the Department of Defense said in a statement reported by Oregon Public Broadcasting.

The department’s Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, tasked with recovering prisoners of war and service members missing in action, said Calkins was captured after U.S. troops in Bataan province surrendered to Japanese forces. After surviving the harrowing 65-mile (105-kilometer) Bataan Death March, he was held at Cabanatuan POW Camp #1, where records show he died on Nov. 1, 1942, at the age of 20. He was buried with other prisoners in what was known as Common Grave 704.

After the war, his remains were exhumed from the camp and relocated to the Philippine capital, where they were buried as “unknowns” at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, the agency said. They remained unidentified until this year.

In 2018, in an effort to identify the unknown remains associated with Common Grave 704, the agency exhumed them once again and sent them to a laboratory. There, scientists used DNA analysis and other techniques to identify Calkins’ remains.

A rosette will be placed next to his name on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery to indicate he has been accounted for, the agency said.

Calkins’ remains are set to return to Oregon for burial in the Portland suburb of Hillsboro in September.

Micha and Grace Sinclair welcomed two rescue cats into their Portland home and their life expanded. Grace trained cats Salya and Mot to wear a harness as they wander through the couple’s attractive triangular yard, and Micha built a large screened cat patio, or catio, that allows the felines to exit one of the kitchen windows and safely nap or play in the outdoor air. The cats can see birds, but they can’t catch them.

Salya and Mot are two of the stars of the Portland area’s 12th Annual Catio Tour from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7. Admission is $15 (CatsSafeAtHome.org) to join the self-paced, self-guided tour and see a variety of catios, from fenced spaces to portable options. Tour goers can talk with the homeowners and renters who built the clever enclosures, and meet the cats that enjoy them, “feline attitude permitting,” say organizers.

The popular Catio Tour is produced by the nonprofit Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon, Bird Conservation Oregon and Bird Alliance of Oregon (formerly Portland Audubon). The tour stops, from Southeast Portland to Vancouver, were selected to showcase ideas that fit any budget and space.

Funds raised through the event support the Cats Safe at Home campaign, which aims to reduce free-roaming cats with solutions that are good for cats and wildlife. The program’s CatsSafeAtHome.org site offers ideas for cat owners to install a screened enclosure for cats to exercise without facing outdoor hazards, like dogs and cars, while also protecting birds and other wildlife from cats.

At the Bird Alliance of Oregon’s Wildlife Care Center, nearly 40% of the birds brought in for treatment have been battered by a cat.

“Cats are both predator and prey,” said Micha. “Catios allow cats outside stimulus while keeping other wildlife safe that has a right to be there too.”

The Sinclairs and their cats benefit from a garden landscape that is a wildlife habitat certified by the National Wildlife Federation. The couple, who own Rejuvenation Artisans Landscapes, designed and sustainably maintained their garden to provide healthy soil, clean water and native plants for butterflies, birds, bats and other creatures.

Grace, a licensed landscape contractor, horticulturist and designer, has been creating organic landscapes since the 1990s. Both Grace and Micha, who is the chair of the Oregon Landscape Contractor’s Board, promote the use of thick mulches, organic compost and fertilizers, early disease and pest control, and proper and timely pruning to eliminate dependence on chemical fertilizers and sprays.

With their approach, fruits, herbs, edible flowers and foliage can be consumed, and people and animals can thrive.

Grace, who grew up in Arizona and is an enrolled member of the Gila River Indian Community, said she was taught that “all lives are vital.” She started rescuing cats, reptiles and other animals as a child with her grandmother.

“An important piece of being in the world is understanding that human perspective is not the only perspective and that animals can be loving and amazing companions,” said Grace, who once managed container gardening for exotic animal enclosures. She also maintained the award-winning Entry Garden at the San Francisco Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park before moving to Oregon in 2004.

The name Salya was inspired by the Maricopa word for “moon” and Mot means “earth” in the Native American language, Grace said.

“So we live with the moon and the earth,” said Micha. “Mot is in and out of the catio a 100 times a day, using it as a 12-foot-tall jungle gym, while Salya goes there for long stretches of time, to nap or watch birds” through the mesh siding.

Micha used salvaged wood, including manzanita, to build the 7-foot-long structure surrounded by rhododendron shrubs on the side of their Craftsman-style house. He added elevated platforms for the cats to jump onto.

Grace said the catio tour can help people see construction examples and ask questions. “Every house is different and cats’ needs are different,” she said. “It’s wonderful to see what’s possible and it’s always fun to look at kitties.”

Construction tips

A catio can be any size, from a simple window box, screened-in balcony or detached metal-and-wooden structure. Existing patios can be transformed into catios simply by enclosing them with screen or wire.

If you don’t want to construct a cat condo using plans, you can buy a kit or hire a pro (see CatsSafeAtHome.org/catio-resources).

Just like you, cats like ventilation and their Cat TV (aka a view of the outdoors). Here are tips catio makers offered the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon:

• Decide if the catio is just for cats or if it needs to be large enough for people to wander around. Placement of doors and ramps differ depending on the usage. After the entrance location is selected and a solid base has been made, changes can happen along the way if needed.
• If the catio is visible, create a finished look by putting mesh fencing inside the framing. If you aren’t concerned about the look, it’s faster to put fencing on the outside of the structure.
• Consider year-round comfort. Create shady places for cats to be when it’s hot or they want to hide, and warm the space on cold days with inexpensive throw carpets, a low-voltage heat lamp or removable plexiglass window panels fitted around the framing.
• Make sure all seams are sealed above, below and on every side of the catio so cats cannot get out and predators cannot get in. Add a cat flap to the home’s exterior door, window, wall cut out or build a screened walkway.
• Add toys, a litter box and slowly acclimate cats to the catio.

— Janet Eastman | 503-294-4072

jeastman@oregonian.com | @janeteastman