No $hi*, Skippy! Nobody else does either!
The chances of this project receiving any "Federal Funding" is directly dependent upon the Democrats forcing a sufficient enough hike in the debt ceiling, so that Senator Patty Murray can write the project just under a $1 Billion check, using money that will supposedly be borrowed from the Communist Chinese.
(That is, if the ChiComms are stupid enough to lend the US another dime...)
But the problem is that there isn't even a design on paper yet, so the project is attempting to come up with something to fit the budget that local politicos and WSDOT promised they would not exceed. The potential for cost over-runs is staggering, and there is virtually no support locally to pay nearly $1500 a year in tolls, along with a hike in the local Sales Tax in order to pay for maintenance and operation of the Loot Rail line. Given the way Washington State's finances are structured, if the Loot Rail line is losing money and tolls can't pay the bills, then the next option is a special lien on private property owners.
Make no mistake, the Columbia River Crossing Project is the "Big Dig" of the Pacifist Northwest. It is multi-billions of dollars devoted to Loot Rail, Bicycle and Pedestrian access to Interstate 5, and all of it based on budgetary projections that are straight out of Fantasy Land.
(For the uninitiated, Boston's "Big Dig" was projected to cost just $2 Billion in 1987, and ended up running over $14.7 Billion by the time the project ended in 2003.)
Worth a read at the link...search keywords for background reading.....
That is the way the title was published...not my error...
but they still want an HOV and a light rail lane on the bridge.
Just as long as the charge bikes and train passengers their fair share of the additional costs...so a bike toll should be about $2000 each way. If that results in no riders..then they don’t need the bike trail..right?
How about they just continue to repaint the existing bridge (you know, like what they’ve done with the Golden Gate Bridge for almost 100 years)? Oh, sorry, they need carpool lanes and light rail.
Now, if we were $14T in debt, I might oppose it - but since our finances are so great, why not spend a few billion here?
Why not put a dam there and drive across the top? The upstream flooding would eliminate a lot of the current north Portland problems.
It wasn't always so, although to us youngsters it just seems that way.
Randal O'Toole's take is honest and refreshing: Henry J. Is Spinning in His Grave.
My mother, who spent three years there (in Vancouver, not Portland) as a newly-wed while my dad was in the Army, always spoke highly of Kaiser and his shipbuilding efforts. Nobody did it better.
Oh no you don't! Seattle's Viaduct replacement tunnel gets to be the "Big Dig" of the NW. It's projected to cost $4 billion, will take the 3 lane Highway 99 (the main detour around downtown Seattle) down to 2 lanes (yes, we LOSE capacity), and will easily eclipse $15 billion by the time it's done.
You can claim the CRC is the NW's bridge to nowhere, but when it comes to frivolous, wasteful transportation spending - Seattle (with it's $200+ million per mile light rail with 2000 daily riders) is number one in the NW!