I’ve been to enough public hearings and submitted more than enough detailed renderings of the Interstate Bridge replacement options to legislative bodies and elected officials to know for a certainty that public input nothing is more than a formality, a pretense.

That said, I believe the I-5 bridge must be replaced, but with “single-deck” for reasons I’ve stated many times to no avail. Single-deck was studied 2004-2008 but was dropped from consideration in 2009 after our African American President Obama was elected and Senator McConnell swore an oath to not cooperate in any way with his administration. I believe this oath was taken as ‘consent’ to scuttle the CRC project from within the planning bureaus, mostly Wsdot, the CRC Commission of agencies leader.

There is NO good explanation for why “single-deck” was replaced with “double-deck.” Single-deck minimizes deck weight that piers support, and allows the new bridge to meet Coast Guard minimum river clearance standard of 125’. More important, a single-deck design locates a 3-lane transit/ped/bikeway span furthest west adjacent to the southbound span on the same level to form an “emergency access” corridor that would save lives in predicted accidents. “We don’t need no stinkin’ emergency access corridor,” growled Kris Strickler, Wsdot’s project manager while he successfully covered up what went wrong, not limited to bridge “structural integrity” that double-deck designs do NOT meet. Think of double-deck designs “like balancing a bowling ball on a golf tee.” In an emergency, all light rail trains must stop unlike an extension of the Vancouver BRT “system” that could steer around emergency vehicles. I support extending the MAX to a Hayden Island terminus and junction to a BRT across the new bridge.

Double-deck bridge designs make the Hayden Island Interchange more complicated. The first problem to correct is to remove the “central underpass” from further consideration. That underpass meant the exit ramps must first clear it and are then short, steep and “blind” ie, motorists at faster speeds exit with constricted visibility lead to ‘T’ stops. In the southbound direction, if you didn’t stop, you were in the water! In both direction the design guaranteed rear-ender collisions. On ramps are also visually impaired as well as noisy and polluting. I submitted a Hayden Island access design proposal to the CRC commission, but they flushed it down the toilet. “Don’t give us your crap,” chortled Wsdot director at the time, Lynn Peterson.

Lastly, it appears the Marine Dr interchange is off the table. Are you shitting me? Of the 7 interchanges proposed, Marine Dr is MOST in need of replacement and MUST be built first to become a staging access corridor for later construction. In Warshington state, access to SR 14 and downtown Vancouver are necessary, but the 3 interchanges further north seem to me nothing more than “make work” construction jobs to buy votes. In 2011, when the first CRC bridge design was released to the public, an extensive peer review declared it “structurally unsound.” The first thing Wsdot did was try to defer funding the completion of Marine Dr interchange studies. In 2010, Wsdot rejected ODOT’s Concept #1 off-island access proposal. Wsdot directors think they can shit on Oregon and got that punk Kris Strickler in ODOT with glowing praise. Strickler is guilty of criminal violations of the planning process on this project and several others in Oregon. Mister Kris Strickler should be removed from office in disgrace and face charges of criminal activity in a court of law.

Okay then, ODOT won't officially put the I-5 Columbia River Bridge atop their list of projects to fund because THEY KNOW it's poorly engineered. The next most likely project is the Rose Quarter I-5 "widening" which is likewise so piss poorly engineered that it absolutely will worsen traffic hazards and accident rates including "severity" which means more accidents will prove fatal. Strickler doesn't want the public to hear about that but it will be ignored as he plays the race card, ie, anyone who doesn't support it will be portrayed as white supremist.

When I see a bus with the new color scheme - Dark Blue with dull Orange "racing" stripes on the "back of the bus", I think Dark Blue is a prisoner transport bus color with Orange jumpsuit "racing" stripes was chosen to "intentionally" send a subconscious message that those who ride the bus are criminal persons of color. Funding Tri-Met is also wasted on more standard 40' rattletrap buses that do NOT convert to EV very well. At twice the price, from $350k to $750k, for converted old model buses will keep transit patronage at a minimum, exactly what powerful automobile-related business interests - finance, insurance, construction, parking garage czars as well as manufacturers and dealers want. Municipal transit systems don't work by design.

What's next on ODOT & Tri-Met's wish list? It's probably the voter rejected MAX extension on Hwy 99W (ODOT domain), another example of horrendous engineering that worsens traffic hazards, especially for pedestrians. Its sole motivation was to spur "lucrative" apartment block rental property development that is still in the planning of a Town Center at the Capital Hwy intersection and freeway on-ramp. "People just love living alongside 45mph speeding traffic," no one at ODOT, Metro or City Hall will be heard saying, but that's what these planners deceitfully want the public to believe. It was this proposal that put me on the warpath against Portland's smarmy real estate agent Ted Wheeler and corrupt ODOT director Kris Strickler and Metro Council president Lynn Peterson who must all be held accountable for murderous White Supremist engineering which the ruling class enjoys conducting.