Democracy for Vancouver

Sunshine bridge mockup south of St. Pete, FL

The Daily News has an article today about “toll talk” and the Columbia River Crossing:

Unless improvements are made, the freeway could be gridlocked for up 14 hours a day by 2030.

Don’t want to even think about no improvements 23 years from now. War will break out between Washington and Oregon before then if something isn’t done to fix this. Options include:

- Replacing the two steel truss spans with a single 12-lane bridge that would be high enough to eliminate need for a drawspan. It would be built slightly downstream of the existing spans. The cost ranges from $2.67 billion to $3.09 billion.

- Adding an additional four-lane span to supplement the two existing spans, as well as improving nearby interchanges, at a cost of $2.51 billion to $2.88 billion. The two existing spans, built in 1917 (northbound) and 1958 (southbound), would be reinforced.

- Either of these two options could include tracks linking Clark County to Portland’s light rail system or funding for improved bus service across the river. The additional costs are $530 million to $1.17 billion for light rail and $460 million to $990 million for expanded bus service.

Interesting statistic:

About 75 percent of motorists crossing the Columbia on I-5 enter or exit the freeway between State Route 500 in Vancouver and Columbia Boulevard in Portland.

The project (details of which are still undecided) is scheduled to begin between 2010 and 2017. Can you imagine the gridlock in 2017 if the project is stalled until then? I can’t. That seems like an awful wide estimated starting date given the gridlock that is already a big negative for commuters and commerce in the area.

What do you think? There is a poll on the right sidebar with a “yes or no” vote on a toll. There is also a local briefing you can attend on Nov. 27 by the WSDOT. Details are here.