Saturday, January 10, 2009

Well, at least SOMEONE is showing some smarts: Portland cool to 12-lane bridge

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First of all, we do not need or want an I-5 Bridge replacement. That Commissioner Tom Mielke campaigned against this waste of money is one of the top two reasons why he was elected, and Bridge and Light Rail lackey Pam Brokaw lost.

Many knew from the beginning that the CRC study was a sham; that the outcome was pre-ordained for the very "plan" we have now, and tens of millions of dollars have been wasted to get the pre-ordained outcome.

The ENTIRE IDEA OF REPLACING THIS BRIDGE IS TO GET LIGHT RAIL INTO VANCOUVER. PERIOD.

Yet, we're not asked if we want it.

I kinda get a little of the feeling that prisoners in this state used to get when they were going to be executed.

They weren't asked if they WANTED to be executed. Their choices were limited only TO THE "HOW" OF IT. You ARE going to be executed; the ONLY choice you get is do you prefer hanging, gassing or lethal injection?

That is not to say that prisoners should have the right to make their executions optional; but it IS to say that WE, THE PEOPLE, should NOT be given the same status as death row inmates. Our elected officials are not God. THEY are not going to pay for this, which makes it easy for THEM to commit those who DO have to pay for it to over $1000 a year in additional debt... all without asking us.

I will NEVER support ANY elected official that wants this without asking us; and I will do anything I can to get them out of office. And ANYTHING includes money, time, and public confrontation.

Enough is enough.



Portland cool to 12-lane bridge
Two officials say they might back 10-lane crossing over river

Friday, January 9 11:01 p.m.
BY JEFFREY MIZECOLUMBIAN STAFF WRITER

A pair of elected officials from the Portland area are far from sold on building a 12-lane replacement for the Interstate 5 Bridge and say it might be difficult to support even a 10-lane alternative.

“It’s possible that I could stretch to get to 10 lanes,” Portland Mayor Sam Adams said toward the end of Friday’s Columbia River Crossing project sponsors council meeting in Vancouver.

Metro Council President David Bragdon said he, too, might be able to support a 10-lane crossing, provided that it is correctly “priced” through bridge tolls.

A 12-lane bridge would have, in each direction, three lanes for through traffic and three auxiliary lanes for vehicles entering and exiting the freeway. It would mean fewer accidents, less congestion and less traffic diversion to the I-205 bridge than a 10-lane alternative, but it also would cost an extra $100 million.

Paring the project to just eight lanes would save an additional $85 million, but project engineers say that option would not meet the project’s adopted purpose of easing congestion.

Twelve lanes would be built on only a relatively short distance of the bridge-freeway-transit project that could cost as much as $4.2 billion, namely on the new bridge itself and a stretch of freeway, Mill Plain Boulevard to state Highway 500.

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