The National Bike Summit is under way in D.C., a downpour is expected this evening, Fred Armisen is producing a satirical TV show, “Portlandia,” the Blazers beat the Heat, and our thoughts thus turn to the old home town of Portland, Oregon.

The chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Rep. John Mica (R-FL), recently took his committee to Vancouver, Wash., just across the Columbia River from Portland, for a “listening session” on infrastructure policy and budgeting. He was in search of priority setting for legislation, but instead got pleading for local projects, especially the Columbia River Crossing. The Bike Portland blog had a good report on his meeting, “Mica presses for specifics at House Transportation Committee field hearing.” Business representatives did get to comment along with state and local transportation officials:

Rep. Shuster spoke of his work in the Northeast part of the country. “We faced bats, snails, fish, trees, you name it, we faced it… Everyone is concerned about the environment, but we’ve got to find the right balance.”

Joe Correy, a rep from Associated General Contractors said, “We need less regulations.” Cappel from Clark County Public Works said EPA regulations are, “One of the biggest challenges” he faces. Several panelists spoke to how environmental mitigation requirements result in skyrocketing project costs.

Reporter/Editor/Publisher Jonathan Maus closes his post commeting on  a noteworthy absence: “Oh, and in case you’re wondering, bicycling wasn’t mentioned at all. Not once.”

Well, that certainly won’t be the case today when Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) addresses the National Bike Summit. We don’t know how many articles we’ve read about Rep. Blumenauer’s bicycle advocacy; they repeat themselves. On policy issues, we detect a tendency toward reductio ad absurdum and free-wheeling slagging of industry.

In an NRP story about the House leadership abandoning expensive biodegradable plates and cups because they fell apart, Blumenauer commented: “You wonder what’s next… Lead paint? Asbestos? I mean, there’s lots of things that are less expensive as long as you don’t care about health and other considerations.” That’s ridiculous.

Rep. Blumenauer makes an appearance in a new American Spectator article about Portland, more specifically how the city’s love affair with light rail is unsustainable from a ridership, tax and budget standpoint. The transit authority, Tri-Met, faces a $27 million deficit, Ethan Epstein reports in “Portland Going Nowhere“:

You know the adage, “When you’re in a hole, stop digging”? TriMet has revised it to: “When you’re in a hole, build more light rail.” Despite its financial distress, TriMet now plans to build another MAX line, its most expensive yet. Construction is slated to begin this summer on a segment connecting Portland and Milwaukie, a sleepy town of 20,000. The price tag: $1.5 billion. As the line would stretch only 7.3 miles, the cost per mile would be a little more than $200 million. The federal government has agreed to foot half the bill, and TriMet plans to fund most of the rest by floating $724 million in bonds.

Milwaukie’s not THAT sleepy, we assure you, and a light rail line serving the would be really, really cool. Maybe there’d be a stop at Reed College! Thanks, federal taxpayers!

Struck by the dominant play of transportation issues in today’s Washington Post:

Page A1, “Inauguration to Close Bridges and Highways”

The U.S. Secret Service and regional transportation officials unveiled a plan yesterday to ban personal vehicles from all Potomac River bridge crossings from Virginia into the District and from interstates 395 and 66 inside the Capital Beltway on Inauguration Day.

The plan would also cordon off a large section of downtown Washington from 4 a.m. to 7 p.m. to help manage the unprecedented crowds expected

Much gnashing of wailing on WMAL talk radio this morning over the apparent overreaction. We remain convinced that the authorities are emphasizing the inconveniences in order to hold down the crowd size. The folks who have paid thousands of dollars for hotel rooms, etc., will be fine, but the hoi polloi will be discouraged.

Page B1, “U.S. Transportation Chief Backs Dulles Rail Project“:

U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters gave the final federal seal of approval to plans to extend Metrorail to Dulles International Airport last night, ensuring that the $5.2 billion project can move forward without restrictions

After a series of regulatory setbacks in 2008, rail to Dulles was revived last month when the Federal Transit Administration discarded long-standing skepticism about the project’s cost and management and sent it on to Peters for final action. Yesterday’s news marks what state, local and congressional boosters said is the government’s irreversible approval of the project.

Page B1, “Rail Gains Momentum As Purple Line Pick”:

Despite its substantially higher cost, light rail has emerged as the clear front-runner among Maryland officials as they prepare to choose a transit system that would link Montgomery and Prince George‘s counties.

After more than 20 years of debate, a 16-mile rail line is the widely popular alternative to a rapid bus system, even though light rail could cost three times as much to build and 50 percent more to maintain and operate, according to state estimates.

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Twenty years of debate? Is that what they mean by shovel ready?

We had the occasion of traveling on Portland’s light-rail system, the MAX, the Monday before Christmas from Portland International Airport to Hillsboro, a distance of  35 miles or so. The trains traveled through the snow and ice when nothing else was moving in town, so that’s a mark in favor of rail over buses. But how important is that weather advantage in the D.C. area? (Washington Post info box, “The Purple Line Debate: Light Rail vs. Bus Rapid Transit“)

The most notable thing about MAX, transportation issues aside? The aggressive lecturing on behavior carried out in bilingual parity. Political correctness meets Emily Post, en Espanol. Weird.