Chief
03-05-2008, 04:53 AM
http://columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/03/03052008_Backers-of-third-bridge-to-push-idea-again.cfm
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
By JEFFREY MIZE, Columbian staff writer
Backers of building a third bridge across the Columbia River refuse to give up their multiyear struggle to get traction for their plan.
Debbie Peterson, a Republican who intends to run for the legislative seat now held by Rep. Bill Fromhold, D-Vancouver, questions the cost-effectiveness of the emerging Columbia River Crossing project.
“The third-bridge option has never been studied to the degree a replacement bridge has been studied,” she said.
Peterson has scheduled an “educational forum” for Sunday afternoon on a third bridge, which she considers an option worthy of further study before spending more than $4 billion on a replacement Interstate 5 bridge, highway improvements and light rail transit.
Sunday’s forum, in the Public Service Center, 1300 Franklin St., will begin with an informal open house at 12:30 p.m., followed by presentations at 2 p.m. and an open microphone session at 3 p.m.
Peterson said she is staging the forum with Sharon Nasset, an unsuccessful candidate for Portland City Council in 2002 who is mounting a second campaign this year.
Nasset has spent much of this decade promoting what she previously called the “Northwest Passage,” now the “BiState Industrial Corridor,” an arterial through north Portland that would cross the Columbia River at or near the existing railroad bridge.
Traffic engineers years ago rejected the idea as not a viable alternative to building a replacement or supplemental I-5 bridge because it would do little to ease mounting freeway congestion.
Even though a majority of bridge traffic enters and exits the freeway in a 5-mile stretch from Columbia Boulevard in Portland to state Highway 500 in Vancouver, engineers say there’s little reason to believe these drivers would detour a mile or more out of their way to use a third bridge.
A third bridge connected to Mill Plain Boulevard also has the potential to dump gobs of traffic onto downtown Vancouver streets.
Peterson, however, said she believes residents are only now starting to realize the implications of the Columbia River Crossing project.
“I have heard very few people in favor of the replacement bridge and light rail,” she said. “It’s sobering when I think we could spend this kind of money and have so little consensus.”
Columbia River Crossing officials are welcomed to attend Sunday’s forum and make a presentation, Peterson said.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
By JEFFREY MIZE, Columbian staff writer
Backers of building a third bridge across the Columbia River refuse to give up their multiyear struggle to get traction for their plan.
Debbie Peterson, a Republican who intends to run for the legislative seat now held by Rep. Bill Fromhold, D-Vancouver, questions the cost-effectiveness of the emerging Columbia River Crossing project.
“The third-bridge option has never been studied to the degree a replacement bridge has been studied,” she said.
Peterson has scheduled an “educational forum” for Sunday afternoon on a third bridge, which she considers an option worthy of further study before spending more than $4 billion on a replacement Interstate 5 bridge, highway improvements and light rail transit.
Sunday’s forum, in the Public Service Center, 1300 Franklin St., will begin with an informal open house at 12:30 p.m., followed by presentations at 2 p.m. and an open microphone session at 3 p.m.
Peterson said she is staging the forum with Sharon Nasset, an unsuccessful candidate for Portland City Council in 2002 who is mounting a second campaign this year.
Nasset has spent much of this decade promoting what she previously called the “Northwest Passage,” now the “BiState Industrial Corridor,” an arterial through north Portland that would cross the Columbia River at or near the existing railroad bridge.
Traffic engineers years ago rejected the idea as not a viable alternative to building a replacement or supplemental I-5 bridge because it would do little to ease mounting freeway congestion.
Even though a majority of bridge traffic enters and exits the freeway in a 5-mile stretch from Columbia Boulevard in Portland to state Highway 500 in Vancouver, engineers say there’s little reason to believe these drivers would detour a mile or more out of their way to use a third bridge.
A third bridge connected to Mill Plain Boulevard also has the potential to dump gobs of traffic onto downtown Vancouver streets.
Peterson, however, said she believes residents are only now starting to realize the implications of the Columbia River Crossing project.
“I have heard very few people in favor of the replacement bridge and light rail,” she said. “It’s sobering when I think we could spend this kind of money and have so little consensus.”
Columbia River Crossing officials are welcomed to attend Sunday’s forum and make a presentation, Peterson said.