I've had a few hundred thousand or so words to say against the bizarre and monstrously wasteful idea of replacing the I-5 Bridge without building a third... and then a fourth, bridge first.
But that idea has no particular cache' with the Downtown Mafia. Our slimier politicians, entirely in the pockets of the special interests pulling their strings, including Pollard, Leavitt, Stuart, Pridemore, Wallace and the like; don't give a damn WHAT WE want: I mean, the very idea that the people who have to pay for this; the people who will have to put up with the results of a loot rail connection with the city that loves their mayor, one Sam Adams; and by any means the poor bastards that will get stiffed with the $1200 a year tax these morons will not have to pay to go to work shouldn't have any say as what it is these more enlightened people want to ram down our throats.
And out of all the people representing us, I have to rely on a senator from the adjoining district to actually step up and speak out against this colossal and massive waste of time, energy and effort... not to mention $4 trillion.
My legislators are heavily involved in the church mouse act. So, Sen. Benton has stepped up to provide a voice for all of those ignored so far by an arrogant, out of control government that views their personal wants to somehow exceed the importance of the opinion of those they would govern.
Columbia River Crossing
My position on solving the I-5 bottleneck from Vancouver to Portland continues to be distorted in the news media. I am not against a solution; I am against the current proposal that will not solve the problem. So far, Washington has spent $60 million dollars – wasted $60 million – on a plan to build a new bridge that will not increase capacity and will not help commuters. Replacing the bridge will not solve congestion, nor will it significantly improve freight mobility. With the forecast of six-mile backups lasting 14 hours per day made by David Evans and Associates done for the CRC in 2005, I think the idea of just replacing the bridge is unbelievable.
Nearly one-third of these commuters live in Clark County – and Vancouver continues to grow, having more than doubled its population since 1995. Even with the planned correction of the bottleneck at Delta Park, there are no additional thru-lanes planned, which would mean that cars and trucks will still crawl over the river, waste fuel and spew carbon monoxide, and drivers will be charged a toll to do it.
I have been a champion of transportation projects for all of Clark County, not just my legislative district, throughout my 14 years in the Legislature. I have gone to bat for important transportation projects that bring great benefit to the entire county and region and will continue to do so. I simply cannot condone or support wasting precious resources on proposals that will not increase capacity or reduce congestion. I call on other community and government leaders to join me in my opposition to this horrendous waste of public resources and join forces to promote a real congestion relief plan that will include a new corridor and a third bridge across the Columbia River. The underlying cause of congestion on Interstate 5 is a corridor issue, not a bridge issue. A replacement bridge will not solve that long-term problem. We need a real solution, not just a place to put light rail which even proponents admit will not move more than 2 percent of trips daily.
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