Metro Council president David Bragdon was up at the zoo yesterday with an African hedgehog, trying to predict the weather. “Not only has the hedgehog been wrong three of the past four years,” says Bragdon, “but this year the orangutans’ prediction about the Super Bowl was wrong. They picked the Cardinal jersey instead of the Steeler jersey. I may have to fire them all.”
BRAGDON: “Maybe next year we will just barbecue the little fella at Otto’s and be done with it once and for all.”
Now, in actual interesting news, Bragdon had an editorial in this morning’s Oregonian saying it’s impossible to determine the size of the Columbia River Crossing, without deciding on how much to toll the bridge. He hits out at departments of transportation on both sides of the river for apparently separating the question of lanes from the question of tolling, and further, hints that he’d like a 10-lane bridge. At least, that’s what I think he’s saying. Judge for yourself.
Doubly interesting: While Bragdon emailed three times to talk about the hedgehog, he’s not responded yet to my questions about the bridge. And when I called to ask him in person, I got the voicemail. It’s all about messaging, I guess.
Why did the hedgehog cross the bridge?
Seriously, did you REALLY call me? Sorry, I was temporarily in a meeting – with some cheetahs.
So to answer your question: the conventional models which purport to show a 12 lane bridge is “best” are highly suspect in my view, mostly because the impacts of tolls (which are a necessity on this project) are relatively untested in this country. I think there are scenarios under which a ten lane bridge could actually perform better, including from the standpoint of traffic flow, than twelve. I definitely lean that direction, to minimize the risks of what I refer to in my Oregonian novella as “induced demand” but can also be referred to as defeating your own purpose by having a facility promoted as the solution to congestion actually end up causing more of it. Bottom line though is it all has to be part of a package that optimizes the multiple desired outcomes, which include predictability for freight, reinforcing good land uses, reducing emissions, etc.
See how technical this gets? Now excuse me, I need to go feed some otters.
Thanks for clarifying, David. My question becomes: If you and Sam Adams think 10 lanes is a good idea, with tolls, will you both have the guts/political clout to stand up to all the cheerleaders who just want the bridge built as big as possible?
If you are “leaning in that direction,” do you think anybody’s going to lean with you? Is there a danger that you start tilting at windmills?
Adams, after all, has stood on his sustainability credentials. And us Portlanders love nothing better than a little ill-researched yelp in favor of “the environment.” But those fellas on the Clark County board of commissioners…well…they ain’t so predisposed.
Give me some fighting talk I can print, sir. If you please…
Mr Davis, this question is a great match for your economic reporting skills. Seems like WA wants as big a bridge as possible, no tolls, no rail, no bike and Portland wants the opposite. So the horse trading ensues. The more convenient the commute, the better for a growing population, builders and tax base in WA at the expense of Portland jobs. It’s hard to see what Portland gets out of it at all economically. They have some pretty decent schools up there too, including an arts magnet high school. But they have some of their own crazy politics with Northern Clark Co wanting to succeed from the big bad city of Vancouver while it wouldn’t be beyond the pale for parts of Vancouver to become homestead central for hipsters as have FoPo and St Johns. So riddle me this, how much will Portlander’s have to pay for a 12 lane yellow brick road if one is needed at all?
Mr Davis, this question is a great match for your economic reporting skills. Seems like WA wants as big a bridge as possible, no tolls, no rail, no bike and Portland wants the opposite. So the horse trading ensues. The more convenient the commute, the better for a growing population, builders and tax base in WA at the expense of Portland jobs. It’s hard to see what Portland gets out of it at all economically. They have some pretty decent schools up there too, including an arts magnet high school. But they have some of their own crazy politics with Northern Clark Co wanting to succeed from the big bad city of Vancouver while it wouldn’t be beyond the pale for parts of Vancouver to become homestead central for hipsters as have FoPo and St Johns. So riddle me this, how much will Portlander’s have to pay for a 12 lane yellow brick road if one is needed at all?
Re: “Ground Hedgehog Day At The Zoo”
Mr Davis, this question is a great match for your economic reporting skills. Seems like WA wants as big a bridge as possible, no tolls, no rail, no bike and Portland wants the opposite. So the horse trading ensues. The more convenient the commute, the better for a growing population, builders and tax base in WA at the expense of Portland jobs. It’s hard to see what Portland gets out of it at all economically. They have some pretty decent schools up there too, including an arts magnet high school. But they have some of their own crazy politics with Northern Clark Co wanting to succeed from the big bad city of Vancouver while it wouldn’t be beyond the pale for parts of Vancouver to become homestead central for hipsters as have FoPo and St Johns. So riddle me this, how much will Portlander’s have to pay for a 12 lane yellow brick road if one is needed at all?
Re: “Ground Hedgehog Day At The Zoo”
Mr Davis, this question is a great match for your economic reporting skills. Seems like WA wants as big a bridge as possible, no tolls, no rail, no bike and Portland wants the opposite. So the horse trading ensues. The more convenient the commute, the better for a growing population, builders and tax base in WA at the expense of Portland jobs. It’s hard to see what Portland gets out of it at all economically. They have some pretty decent schools up there too, including an arts magnet high school. But they have some of their own crazy politics with Northern Clark Co wanting to succeed from the big bad city of Vancouver while it wouldn’t be beyond the pale for parts of Vancouver to become homestead central for hipsters as have FoPo and St Johns. So riddle me this, how much will Portlander’s have to pay for a 12 lane yellow brick road if one is needed at all?
What about the photovoltaic windmill covered carbon neutral bioswale/roof? We can’t just spend our bureaucrats time worrying about how much to charge for the next 50 years worth of bridge tolls: a true Harvard Effete needs to go the extra mile and pile some crunch granola on top.
Let’s at least give the rubes something pretty to look at while they traverse the only architecturally significant bottleneck on the I-5 corridor.
We’d be better off if the monkeys were voting instead of Sam Adams and David Bragdon.
They should just let an elephant decide how big the bridge will be.