Did you know that $0.08 billion could eliminate the vast majority of our I-5 Bridge lifts? The CRC bureaucracy has already spent twice that for no-bid “studies”.
Did you know that $0.7 (zero point seven) billion could buy a simple street level third bridge for local traffic with dedicated lanes for transit, a super-wide bike and pedestrian crossing, a true solution to the slow speed on and off ramps that merge at freeway speeds, better access to Hayden Island that saves their one Safeway store, a far safer design that will save lives, unrestricted river traffic vertical clearance, affordable enough to be toll free, while allowing us to continue to use our already-paid-for historic I-5 Bridge?
Compare that to the $3.5 billion ($8.7 billion with debt service) CRC light rail tolling project that constricts the clearance of river traffic by 44% and is so expensive that it would require $8.28 tolls (round trip) and strap our children with billions in debt.
Did you know that $3.5 billion could buy five brand new I-205 Glenn Jackson Bridges adjusted for current inflation? Multiply that by 2.5 to include finance changes. Then add tolls.
Did you know that the annual tolls alone could but a new Toyota Camry for 3,500 Clark County commuters every year?
This staggering multi-billion-dollar price tag for the CRC Light Rail Tolling monstrosity prompted veteran Tri-met operations David Rowe and transit designer Jim Howell (representing decades of Tri-Met transportation design and operation expertise) to design a common sense alternative to the CRC boondoggle.
Their Common Sense Alternative cost taxpayers zero compared to the CRC bureaucracy that spent $160 million on a boondoggle that fails to meet Coast Guard compliance.
The CRC boondoggle introduces dangerous vertical 5% slopes that are at the legal limit for ADA compliance and introduces horizontal curve-induced impaired sight-distance safety hazards to trains and traffic (especially trucks) who will not be able to stop in time to avoid impact.
Lowering the river clearance from 176 feet to 116 is a huge step backwards for the Columbia River economic engine. It will drive three of the largest employers out of Clark County that use the Kaiser Shipyard facility at Columbia Business Park to provide $100s of millions in high paying jobs to Clark County citizens: Greenberry, Thompson Metal Fab, and Oregon Iron Works. This alternate solution would eliminate that loss.
The Woodrow Wilson Bridge in Washington DC
is a twin span and much larger than the single
span that we would need.
