Metro planners project that by 2040, transit will be taking 6.31 percent, while walking and biking will count for 5.74 percent. In other words, the plan will barely make a dent in the dominance of the insolent chariot. It is still expected to rule Portland's streets and highways near the middle of the 21st century. And the region will be feeling the effects. The uneasy combination of dense, compact development with continued auto domination somehow does not compute.
Nightmarish congestion seems the only possible outcome.
To be fair, planners sit in the path of an auto juggernaut. The Portland region, enlightened as its planning has been, has seen the kind of growth in driving experienced in other metropolitan areas. The rate was even greater in the Portland area. Under Region 2040 scenarios, though overall VMT would increase, VMT per person would decline by 12 percent over the next 45 years. Though such a reduction would represent a major turnaround, it would not meet the requirements of either state or federal law.