Unless you grow your own food, weave your own fabric and manufacture just about everything else you need to get by day to day, you need a new crossing over the Columbia at I-5. Because what is there now was built without the conception of modern commerce. That's right, pretty much each one of us depends upon the West Coast corridor that is I-5, Portlanders included.

Only 8 percent of the traffic on the bridge is freight. What we need is a way to make it easy for that traffic to get through--how about a freight only lane certain hours of the day?--not more lanes that will fill up with more commuters and put us right back at square one. (If you can show me the one freeway expansion project where this hasn't happened, I'll buy you a drink.)

How about transit and tolls now that give commuters transit options (and incentives to use them), easing congestion and making it easier for freight to get through, at far less expense?

The "I-5 corridor" over the Columbia includes I-205 as well. It is a "system". But it is worth pointing out that the current I-5 crossing over the Columbia is not even in the top 100 worst bottlenecks in the nation.

http://incursio.blogspot.com/2008/06/what-motivation-would-you-need-to-spend.html

I agree with Amy in terms of prioritizing freight crossing without encouraging more car commuting and sprawl. What needs to happen here is some real thinking OUTSIDE THE BOX. It seems the task force is stuck in one mindset with one equation: traffic bottleneck equals widening the crossing, when there are so many other ways to tackle this problem. We really need to walk the walk here in "green" Portland--and if we're aimed at significantly reducing GG emissions, building more roads for more cars to drive on is NOT the answer.

I'm Rex Burkholder. And I used to care about the million Oregonians who can't drive. Now I'm an elected official, and only care about the freight lobby. Jesus.

You can't even accuse him of selling out, he openly admits it.

But Rex is really just carefully repeating the talking points that came out of the polling the CRC did at public expense. Making it easier for people to commute in their own private vehicle from Clark County is not so popular. Spurring more housing in rural Clark County, that's not so popular either. But helping to maintain commerce in the region - that's something almost everyone can get behind.

But the reaility is this project won't help freight movement. As Amy points out, there are things that could be done if that were the real objective. Instead, the likely outcome of a massive new bridge is to let commuter traffic completely plug the freeway for Swan Island, the Columbia Corridor, Marine Drive and the Central Eastside. The very areas most critical to freight movement and blue collar employment.