New bridge, light rail are inseparable (So just get used to it!)

the columbian ^ | March 27, 2008 | Dina Elizabeth Hovde

[Bean Counter]

Thursday, March 27, 2008 By Elizabeth Hovde

Portland Mayor Tom Potter joked Monday that to get to Vancouver, he gets to “cross the I-5 Bridge that apparently was built by the Lewis and Clark expedition.” The bridge isn’t that old, but it is outdated in size, form and function.

Ask almost anyone if we need a new Interstate 5 bridge and they should nod in agreement. For heads that don’t bob, tell them the northbound span was built in 1917 and the southbound in 1958. Remind people that the bridge is seismically unfit and that it offers the only red light (for bridge lifts) on Interstate 5 between Canada and Mexico. Inform them that this area of I-5 has double the collisions of comparable highways. Finally, tell folks that 134,000 vehicles cross the Columbia River each day on I-5 — leading to four to six hours of congestion each weekday. That might really drive home the point that the drawbridge’s three lanes each way and frequent lifts are entirely inadequate at keeping commerce flowing or getting commuters to and from work.

By 2030, the Columbia River Crossing planners estimate that 184,000 people will be crossing the bridge each day, leading to 15 hours of daily congestion if no action is taken.

That’s where we can make a difference. We can help make sure action is taken. But there’s a small problem: The opposition to light rail (past and present) by many people in Vancouver.

A decade ago, a light-rail measure failed miserably here. And some suggest that a bridge should be built without a mass-transit component.

Whether you believe mass transit is good or bad for a replacement bridge, a new bridge isn’t going to be built without it. The governors of Washington and Oregon and the Portland City Council have all indicated they will not support a new bridge without a light-rail component. Vancouver Mayor Royce Pollard has suggested the same. With these officials saying it’s all or nothing, we better get on board with the idea of shiny little trains traversing the river. One of the primary reasons officials insist on light rail is because without a mass-transit component, the bridge won’t likely win the federal funding it needs to be built. Local leaders aren’t trying to ignore the will of voters or stick it to naysayers; they’re truly trying to get an expensive bridge built.

And right now, the federal government appears willing to help. A lot.

The good news for light-rail detractors follows:

* Because tolls will be required to build the new crossing, those who use the bridge will be paying much of the cost. Fares will contribute to any ongoing light-rail costs. That means commuters and truckers and folks who spend their free time playing in Portland will be paying more of the bill than others. That’s appropriate. * Light rail isn’t going to be added to the bridge project while vehicle lanes go ignored. The bridge is going to bloat big time: up to 12 lanes in the current plan.

Feds could walk away

I was at a recent meeting where a CRC representative and Thayer Rorabaugh, Vancouver’s transportation manager, both said that at some point before the bridge is built, Vancouver voters would need to approve a maintenance and operation measure for any mass-transit plan in the project. I asked what would happen if voters said “no” to the expected 1- to 3-cent tax increase on a $10 purchase:

Their best guess? No bridge. The feds will likely walk away from the table.

Pollard told me Tuesday, “Our time is now. If we don’t take advantage of this opportunity when the feds and the tolls are almost prepared to pay the whole thing for us, we are going to go WAY to the back of the line,” he said.

The back of the line is a bad place to be when dealing with an unfit, overcrowded bridge.

Various light-rail alignments and Park & Rides planned for Vancouver are worrisome. One in particular — up Main Street through Uptown Village — could adversely impact quality of life for residents and businesses.

Bridge planners have to be innovative in finding ways to make any alignment or parking lot a benefit rather than a bust. But Vancouver voters need to make sure Vancouver’s quality of life thrives, too. One way to do that is getting the feds to buy us a new bridge by showing support for the whole package — mass transit and all.

ELIZABETH HOVDE'S column of personal opinion appears on the Other Opinions page each Thursday. Reach her at ehovde@earthlink.net.

[Bean Counter]

Welcome to the wonderful world of the Pacific Northwest's version of "The Big Dig".

For starters, just who do these people think "The Feds" are, and just where do "The Feds" get their money?? If any "Feds" are reading this thread, for gods sake, walk away from this one!!

How am I supposed to feel as a voter here in America's Vancouver, when Hizzonor Mayor Mussolini tells me I had better "get on board with the idea of shiny little trains traversing the river" ??!!

We do not even have a firm idea about what is being proposed, how much it will really cost, or how we are really going to pay for it. For damn sure it won't be "The Feds" who pay for anything on the Columbia Crossing Project.

There is a lot more wrong with this from a local perspective as well which you can read here:

http://www.clarkblog.org/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=1934

[Yo-Yo]

For heads that don’t bob, tell them the northbound span was built in 1917 and the southbound in 1958.

And the Brooklyn Bridge was built when?

[RC2]

The biggest thing wrong with the people in Portland is that they are from California. I lived up there and the change in the area when Californian’s moved in is amazing. It is not the Northwest as I knew it. It’s more like Northern Sacramento. Raise taxes as much as you can and tell people they will love it.

[TMD]

Good luck with the light rail. We have it in Santa Clara County. What a joke! They run on surface streets so they interrupt commuter traffic to traverse intersections (fairly slowly...). Like the transit buses, I have NEVER seen one with more than a handful of people on it (and that’s being generous).

One time we tried to have our son use county transit (buses and light rail) to get from Campbell to the SJ Airport (a 10 minute drive). It would have taken him 2 hrs 45 mins on 2 different buses, 1 light rail with layovers of up to 20 mins and he still would have been 3 blocks from the airport.

In the meantime, most of our roads are absolute crap but at least people “feel” like they are saving the planet.....grumble, grumble, grumble.

[rednesss]

"Because tolls will be required to build the new crossing, those who use the bridge will be paying much of the cost."

So let me get this straight, frequent bridge lifts causes congestion according to this article. What do they think the effect of having everyone stop and pay a toll to cross the damn bridge is going to do for congestion???? Idiots.

[SeaHawkFan]

Elizabeth Hovde is losing it. She used to be the only conservative on the editorial board.

[taxcontrol]

There is a Solomon solution for this. Build the bridge in three sections that run the full length. 5 lanes one way, each way for cars, and then have the two middle lanes for bus, emergency access and/or HOV traffic.

The center two lanes can be reinforced to support possible future light rail if funded. In the mean time, it can be used for higher toll traffic for single occupant cars or allow HOV access and transit bus.

[PeterFinn]

You’re making sense. Obviously, you do not work in government.

[Portcall24]

Which is exactly why this reply is coming to you from Virginia...after being born and raised an Oregonian.

[enraged]

I think most people can see that at some point the bridge will need to be upgraded, if not replaced. But the $1,000,000,000+ plan they have laid out is stupid. Much more could be done with less. Oh and BTW south bound will still wad up when the lanes all merge into only 2-3 lanes.
Unless they plan on stacking the lanes they would have to widen them on both sides which means cutting into the neighborhoods as I-5 is typically lower than the surrounding surface streets through that area.

[PeterFinn]

I don’t know what the penchant for expensive bridges is lately, the SF Bay Bridge project started after the 1989 earthquake and it’s still going on due to design changes that keep bucking up the cost and etc. Vancouver would do well to insist that Portland’s mayor should keep the heck out of their business lest this bridge become a nice graft project for him and his cronies.

[Bean Counter]

“So let me get this straight, frequent bridge lifts causes congestion according to this article. What do they think the effect of having everyone stop and pay a toll to cross the damn bridge is going to do for congestion???? Idiots”

You don’t understand. Washington DOT has perfected Electronic Tolling. They give the sheeple a transponder that automatically debits your checking account for the tolls. You never stop, you don’t even have to slow down. It’s very similar technology to what is used for weighing trucks on the fly...

What’s really neat about this is they can change the amount of the tolls on the fly, so if congestion starts increasing, the tolls automatically go up too. They call it “Congestion Pricing”, and it will be a permanent part of the traffic control plan on the new bridge. If too many people want to use the bridge at certain times, you just raise the toll higher and higher until people decide to cross at some other time.

They are actually projecting future toll revenues so that the Project can seek out financing, using a system called “Increment Tax Financing”. You borrow all the money the project needs, and promise future toll revenues to pay for anything and everything.

In reality, tolls should (and could) pay for a $4.3 Billion Dollar bridge in 2.3 years, but the tolls being proposed would be permanent.

Ain’t this just the sweetest Socialist idea that you’ve ever heard of??

[rednesss]

"You don’t understand. Washington DOT has perfected Electronic Tolling. They give the sheeple a transponder that automatically debits your checking account for the tolls."

That only works if 100% of the people have a Fast Pass or it's equivalent. I live in Eugene, if I go to Vancouver, I'm not going to have a Fast Pass on the dash. I would also surmise that quite a few people also would not have them and they'd have to have toll booths.