A moment of unanimity on the Columbia River Crossing…that you never read about
A personal message from Councilor Liberty
Early in February 2009, after listening to many hours of testimony, all seven members of the Metro Council voted for a resolution relating to the Columbia River Crossing.
No, it was not an endorsement of eight, ten or twelve lanes on a new bridge.
Rather it was a resolution calling for “a comprehensive demand management analysis by an independent consulting firm, not connected to this project or with present or potential contracts with the Washington and Oregon Departments of Transportation.”
“Demand management” is a term that encompasses several ways of influencing who and when people drive their cars and trucks on a road or bridge. It includes dynamic pricing (variable tolls that are changed minute to minute in order to shift and manage traffic in order to maintain minimum speeds for cars or trucks), ramp metering, high occupancy vehicle lanes and public education about travel alternatives.
As the resolution noted, a state of the art demand management system can affect the number of lanes on the bridge and at intersections, project cost, development patterns and greenhouse gases. It was neither possible nor responsible to endorse a particular number of lanes before we knew how the bridge might be managed.
The moment of unanimity is largely unknown by members of the public because the region’s largest newspaper did not publish a story about the Council’s action. Instead, it gave broad coverage to the agreement between the Mayors of Vancouver and Portland to build the biggest possible project, the “jumbo bridge.”
It will be interesting to see the coverage about where the money is going to found—$550 to $700 million from Oregon taxpayers—to pay the jumbo cost of that alternative, $3.6 billion or more.
Meanwhile, I am still an advocate for the Plan B alternative that would: keep the existing bridge which is still structurally sound according to ODOT’s bridge evaluation; build a supplemental arterial bridge for local traffic, light rail, bike and pedestrian use; use demand management on I-5 to get better use out of that facility, coupled with repair and improvement of the downstream railroad bridge that carries freight and passengers.
I think this approach is smarter, greener and cheaper.
– Robert Liberty represents District 6, which includes portions of Northeast, Southeast and Southwest Portland.