CLF Co-hosts Columbia River Crossing Forum

On January 4, 2007, over 70 people showed up for a forum to discuss replacement of the I-5 bridge across the Columbia River. Coalition for a Livable Future co-hosted the forum along with Environmental Justice Action Group, the Columbia Group of the Sierra Club, and Friends of Clark County. Members of various neighborhood associations and community groups attended the event, as did Metro Councilors Robert Liberty and Rex Burkholder, ODOT and WSDOT representatives, and Clark County Commissioner Steve Stuart.

Jay Lyman, Columbia River Crossing staff, started the forum off by giving a presentation on CRC staff recommendations. He explained that the current process has built upon a previous bridge commission (Bi-state Trade Partnership) that came to similar conclusions. Bottom line: CRC staff thinks that we should have a large multimodal bridge that will replace the existing smaller bridges. They recommend a new bridge with 10-12 lanes for motor vehicles, plus either Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) or Light Rail, as well as facilities for pedestrians and cyclists. They feel that the old bridge should be removed completely. While a large number of trips are local, they believe that an arterial bridge would do little to reduce demand on existing I-5 bridges because most traffic is traveling further than just across the river.

Ethan Seltzer, Director of the School of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University, moderated the forum. Following the CRC staff presentation, Mr. Seltzer asked the four invited panelists their thoughts on CRC staff recommendations. The panelists, representing a broad cross-section of interests (elected official, Steve Stuart; citizen activist, Chris Smith; air quality researcher, Bruce Podobnik; and economist, Joe Cortright), all agreed that the current recommendations are too limited. Some felt that the project had been steered from the beginning to arrive at this conclusion. Others had serious concerns over the estimated $2 billion price tag. Many claimed that widening the bridge to 12 lanes across the river would just move the bottleneck into Portland, where the narrow right-of-way prevents more than 3 lanes in each direction.

One panelist suggested that instead of focusing on moving the largest number of cars across the river, we should be trying to find ways of moving PEOPLE across the river. That might result in more innovative ideas, rather than relying on traditional highway planning, which aims to satisfy demand that can never be satisfied. It’s generally accepted today that you cannot build your way out of congestion. The economist on the panel also challenged traditional thinking, claiming that congestion would not cripple the economy – in fact, it indicates a healthy economy.

Mr. Lyman stated that CRC staff asked themselves, “How do we move the most amount of people for the least cost?” Panelists argued, however, that a $2 billion bridge is not a cost effective solution - which works out to about $1,000 per person for every current resident of the region. They also questioned how they could make a decision to narrow the options to just two ideas without having any cost estimates or cost/benefit analysis of the options, and other ideas that have been proposed.

Many panelists and audience members noted the parallel between this proposal and the Mt. Hood Freeway, that would have run down SE Division St. in Portland. What makes our region different is that we believe that community, equity, and air quality are more important than satisfying single-occupancy vehicle demand.

The CRC Joint Taskforce is expected to vote on the staff recommendation on February 27th.

Please visit Portland Transport for more coverage of the forum, or listen to an audio recording of the forum.