Yesterday the Columbia River Crossing (CRC) project got a public hearing in the House Transportation and Economic Development Committee. A rare occasion! Although the big bridge is our region's largest transportation project, during the last legislative session, politicians didn't even get to debate on the House floor whether to give the project $30 million in state funds—Governor Kulongoski slipped the paycheck through a governor-appointed committee that didn't need a legislative sign-off.

But yesterday, politicos and advocates on both sides turned out to give testimony on a statement that would urge the federal government to fund the CRC. You can listen to the archive here but the big news is that in a year when it's hard to get bipartisan support for anything, 20 legislators from both parties signed on to a strongly-worded letter demanding more investigation of the CRC's "true cost".

The critics include some politicians who have long spoken out against the bridge's cost and design—like Jules Bailey and Ben Cannon—but includes a lot of new names as well, like Republican reps Shawn Lindsay, Mike McLane, and Patrick Sheehan.

The legislators point to the economic study from Impresa that showed the CRC could cost $10 billion, not $3.6.

"We believe that there are important unresolved questions that demand further scrutiny before the commitment of additional public dollars to this project," reads the letter, going on to question the project's cost estimate, funding plan, and cost overruns. "If there is an undisputed need for an independent, investment-grade financial analysis, it should be undertaken before commitment of any major additional public dollars."

Download the letter here.

Correction: I originally posted that seven Republicans signed on to the letter—it's actually eight!