A wrinkle in the CRC debate

Every so often I turn my attention to the Columbia River Crossing project, the plan to -- among other things -- replace the Interstate 5 bridge between Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington.

Because the plan is to include the means to send Trimet MAX light rail across the river to Vancouver, I suppose it's been easy to lean toward support of this freeway enhancement program, while dismissing the (voluble) opposition as north-of-the-river manifestation of right-wing, anti-government, anti-transit resistance to progress.

But now comes The CRC Mega-Highway Project, a three part series beginning today at the Seattle Transit Blog.

As explained by Ben Schiendelman of Seattle Subway, the CRC is really a massive highway construction boondoggle being pushed by politically connected consultants. Working with the transportation departments of the two states, they have been able to get the sign-off from lawmakers.

Sources tells the NewsCenter that consultants have done "a Machiavellian job of concealing (the CRC's) visual impacts, and most Senators who voted for it said that had know idea what the project would look like."

As portrayed in a brilliant animated GIF, the light rail element is not even physically connected to the freeway. Rather, the transit component seems to be just a greenish sweetener. How sweet? How about a quintupling of total costs over the original estimate.

It seems alternative proposals exist -- but suffer from being less expensive.

Maybe a lower price tag would persuade the trogs on the Washington side to accept light rail.

Part 2: The Misunderstood Mega-Project. The existing I5 bridge remains structurally sound.

Part 3: How We Can Move Forward. Gov. Inslee must focus on what is doable. 

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Background stories at Bike Portland:

• Will the real CRC project please stand up?
• Days before possible vote, Senators in the dark about CRC project