"the opinion was strong that local politicians had disappointed their constituents in supporting the 12-lane bridge."

I'm a constituent and I'm not disappointed. Maybe more constituents agree with me.

Bridgetown should have bigger, badder, bridges than other towns. I really don't understand the opposition to the bridge. More lanes means more opportunity for rail, bike (even fixie!), pedestrian, etc. This is THE major bottleneck on I-5, which runs the entire length of the western U.S.. All those folks who live in the Couv and come to Bridgetown for work, they pay Oregon taxes. They buy lunch here. They spend money here. They are as much a part of the community of Portland as people from the other burbs. Why all the hatin on the couv?

Wait… Britney Spears is President of the United States? AWWWWWESOME!

Good to see that Sam and Randy's PR machines are earning their keep in blogland. Amy Ruiz working hard on the city dime.

I find it hard to believe that disinterested 8 year old really gives a shit about building a 12 lane highway. Making your kid hold a protest sign regarding something he/she has no understanding of says a great deal about the opposition to the plan.

"Bridgetown should have bigger, badder, bridges than other towns" Really? And should we also have the increased congestion, pollution, and suburban sprawl that this mega-bridge will bring? How about the increased traffic that the extra 80,000 car trips PER DAY will bring to North Portland? Or when they discover (shocker!) that the new shiny bridge is useless without widening all of I-5 through Portland. This is not about bikes. No one cares that there will be a shiny new bike lane. It's about livability and sustainability. Look at LA, look at Houston, look at NY and NJ. Building bigger roads does not decrease congestion, it increases congestion. My favorite sign from yesterday's rally? "BUILD IT AND THEY WILL SPRAWL". That about sums it up I think.

Blabby, Mr. Voluptuous, Demondog & CH:

You're all very enamored of the big CRC bridge and those who support it.

Now: tell us who will pay. The bridge works out to $2,000 per person for every resident in the region. Not one politician has put their name on the line for a realistic plan to raise that dough.

Also, if you have the courage of your convictions, you'll sign your real names, rather than clever pseudonyms.

J. Cortright

Special interests continue to push for a new $4 billion, 12-lane freeway bridge over the Columbia River. They are primarily pigs at the public trough who will benefit from big dollar projects at our expense.

If your house (our transportation infrastructure) has a badly leaking roof, it does not make sense to spend limited funds increasing floor space (pavement).

When we cannot afford to adequately maintain the pavement we have, it is foolish to tear down the Interstate 5 bridge (ODOT determined the bridge was structurally sound in 2007).

A 12-lane freeway bridge is a 20th century response to transportation needs of the 21st century. We need to (1) fix the railroad bridge, (2) build a bridge for LOCAL traffic, light rail, bikes and peds, and (3) provide seismic upgrades to the existing Interstate Bridg. This approach will reduce freeway congestion and help provide a sustainable solution for the 21st century.

Joe C., nice to see you here. I'm not "enamored' by the bridge, I just don't see the point of half-assing a once in a century project. Build the thing to work for a century.

The feds will pay for most of the bridge. The people protesting on the waterfront won't pay for much or any of it. This is the major West Coast interstate. Portland needs to stop navel gazing. We're really not that important.

MM. I would like to know where you got the figure of 80,000 more car trips per day. This figures out at 3,333.3 MORE trips per hour in a day. Not possible. I do agree however, that there is not much sense in building the bridge untill the bottlenecks in PDX are resolved. I also agree with Dan and his ideas about a 3rd bridge.

Blabby, Mr. Voluptuous, Demondog & CH: feel free to throw a rally in favor of a 12 lane bridge and see how many people show up. Besides some tax-payer funded "lobbiests" (which I'd guess at least 2 of you are on the CRC payroll, just given your comment history,) you won't get very many...

You don't often have to lobby support for something that makes sense. Enjoy your rally, just don't use your offspring as a tool.

This young person pictured will have to pay for the privilege of this pollution.

Watch highlights from the rally here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOu9Nj-KFC4

Portland needs this bridge for all the new traffic that's going to occur because of the popularity of MLS in Portland. Duh.

How do I get on this here CRC payroll? I'm neither enamored, nor am I on any payroll. I just think we need to build a bridge that will last for a long time, so we don't have to do it again soon. Like it or nor, assuming we don't have some kind of apocalypse, the city region will continue to grow. People will continue to need to use some kind of vehicle to get from here to there. Whether cars run on gasoline, electricity, hydrogen, or tofu, doesn't really matter. This is an interstate bridge, the feds will pay. What better time to get them to pay than now, when we are all spending for stimulus!

We need a big ass bridge across the big ass river between Oregon and Washington. The current one USED to be a big ass bridge, back when not so many people travelled across it. Now it isn't. Things change. Cities grow.

Surely there are more worthy causes for toddlers to protest....

"Also, if you have the courage of your convictions, you'll sign your real names, rather than clever pseudonyms. "

For the love of fuck, not again... Can we please amend "the rules" to make this shit a banning offence?

Demondog: "This is an interstate bridge, the feds will pay."

The feds will kick in about $700M, of the $4.2B. And that isn't because it is an interstate bridge, it is because it includes light rail. The feds see nothing wrong with the bridge, (it gets congested at rush hour, like every other freeway in the country,) so they see no reason to fund its replacement.

"What better time to get them to pay than now, when we are all spending for stimulus!"

500 feet of this bridge would more than eat up all of our share of the stimulus, but the fact that construction isn't going to start for several years, (let alone finish before 2018,) means that this project really has nothing to do with the stimulus in the first place.

The fact that the public that is "in favor" of this thing don't even know basic facts like this scares me...

all MegaBridge supporters who are still in favor of the bridge if it has a toll say "Aye".

I'm in favor of Bridgezilla and support a toll. In other parts of the country, tolls are a fact of life. By the way, I also support yanking Oregon's tax system out by the roots and putting in a sales tax... but I digress.

I think it's silly that people get scared by bridge projects. The point I was making is that we can come up with the money for this kind of project. Maybe a toll is the solution.

I say nay! Free is a perfectly good price to drive over the perfectly good bridge that is there now.

Check out section B from the ODOT tripcheck cams and you'll likely find one or both sides of the bridge are smooth sailing at any given time.
http://www.tripcheck.com/Pages/RCMap.asp?c…

Now, if congestion is your concern here there are much better, cheaper, and effective alternatives.

If the structure is your concern there are several bridges within 20 miles of this that need repair much, much more urgently.

The States of Oregon and Washington are in a budget crisis. A huge share of the cost of this bridge will come from general revenues of both states. We have more pressing concerns and there is a significant opportunity cost here.

If this thing gets built, as proposed, it will be catastrophic blunder financially and environmentally.

The current CRC proposal is an utter failure! The leadership behind it needs to be replaced.

It's not to late to stop this boondoggle. If you want to help, talk to your state rep and governor. Demand a supplemental environmental impact statement that's open and peer reviewed. Demand open accounting of the money already spent. Demand that not a penny of our state budget go towards this bridge.

Watch highlights of the rally here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOu9Nj-KFC4

Do any of these idiots actually think they're making a difference?

Thank you Sarah Mirk for the well written article. I was there, and I feel like you did a great job recording some of the best quotes.

I loved this one: Politicians' discussion over whether this should be 10 lanes or 12 lanes sounds like a couple of middle school boys arguing over what color Lamborghini they want. They're very opinionated but they don't have the money to afford any of them.

Finally, you gotta report both sides, and the pro 12 lane people have a lot of nut bag rumors that are worth reporting as false. Mostly that the current CRC bridge is a safety risk that needs replacement. Robert Liberty of the Metro Council pointed out many ODOT facts like this. It seems the media is missing out on this sky is falling lie about the CRC bridge.

Isn't the phrase "a good handful of elected officials" an oxymoron? Bad handful would be more like it.

where can I get one of the incomprehensible t-shirts? Old printer guy . . .?