OLYMPIA, Wash. — Any replacement for the century-old Interstate 5 bridge connecting Portland, Ore., and Vancouver, Wash., must include light rail, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said last week.
Inslee, speaking at a preview of the 2019 legislative session that beings today, said light rail will be included because Oregon, which will pay for half of the project, insists on its inclusion, the Columbian reports. Local opposition to light rail helped kill a previous effort to replace the bridge in 2013. The drawbridge over the Columbia River is a major bottleneck on I-5 and between Portland and Vancouver.
“There is a ton of legislative support for a bridge that does have light rail, and I’m very clear about that,” said Inslee. His proposed budget includes $17.5 million for a bridge project office that includes the assumption that light rail will be part of the project. Lawmakers from Clark County, Wash., prefer a bus rapid transit option. While open to the bus option, Inslee said he prefers light rail because it would connect to Portland’s extensive MAX Light Rail system, which he called “a pretty sweet deal.”
The chokepont on adding more service on MAX is that all four lines come together to (creep)
across the Steel Bridge.
Light Rail and Bus Rapid Transit can easily co-exist in the same travel lanes to and from Vancouver Washington. It is already done on the Tilikum Crossing Bridge, a transit/bike/pedestrian bridge build to earthquake standards nearby on the Willamette River. The old bridges have piles driven down 80 feet into mud that will liquefy and collapse in the next big earthquake. Last BIG ONE was 1700 A.D.
Local opposition in Vancouver to Light Rail is the usual group of NIMBY’s and car centric folk who hold the younger crowd back. Vancouver is building up their Waterfront with higher density housing and will need alternative methods of crossing into Oregon.
I live in North Portland and very much would like to have a one seat ride into downtown and S. E. Portland.
The only problem with the TriMet system is a political unwillingness to increase frequency that would drive more ridership and building bottlenecks into the system.
One transit option that should be addressed is Heavy Rail Commuter Service over the Columbia River on BNSF with other Heavy Rail commuter corridors available on UPRR and Portland and Western rails. Lots of transit development can take place for mere money.
The above is my opinion based on living on a Heavy Rail corridor in Chicago, BN, working for the railroads for 37 years, running volunteer trolleys and travels in Europe.
Will not pass. Light rail does not work in Portland (ridership too low).
Living in the Seattle area and having been down to Portland hundreds of times, I can tell you the I-5 bridge is a parking lot at rush hour and way, way outdated. Extending rail to a metropolitan area which happens to be in two states is just common sense. There is a tremendous amount of growth occurring in Clark County Washington, many of those residents commute to Portland, where there are more jobs. They need to have rail there and tied into The MAX in the Portland area.
Fine, if Washington and Oregon want to pay for it. “It” being capital costs and operating subsidies.
And here’s another anecdotal observation: having spent a week in P’land (post E’Builder West from Milw.), central city was a shock. No traffic or horns blaring, no cops or sirens, etc. Plenty of light rail or streetcar criss-crossing the CBD. And well patronized.
The bottom line is this, read ’em and weep….this typology of urban environment is extraordinarily successful and not likely duplicated in this lifetime.
Mister Miller:
You’re right…my interest is centred in Eugene, I don’t get up to Portland much any more. How did that one sneak by me?
The bridge still scares me, every time I use it. I have been sideswiped twice in twenty years on that thing.
The above comments are general in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. Find your own damn lawyer.
Couple of observations:
Anna: The free zone was disestablished some years ago, just like in Seattle.
Gerry: I don’t know the ridership numbers. However, I’ve been in Portland a lot over the last 10+ years, very frequently during the spring-through-fall seasons. From both seeing and riding MAX and the Portland Streetcar, it’s been my anecdotal observation that both are heavily used.
There is city bus service from Vancouver operated by C-TRAN. Several routes go to downtown Portland, and one connects directly to the MAX Yellow Line station at Vanport. I’ve used this, but often times, potential riders consider transfers a nuisance, and they can slow one’s total trip time a lot. That frequently affects my decision to drive or use the city bus in the Seattle area.
The Vancouver-Portland area (VanPort) is a single metropolitan area split between two states by the Columbia River. Portland has a quite good transit system, including a (heavily used) downtown free zone.
Currently residents of Vancouver who have business in Portland (many are commuters) or the reverse have no real option but to drive. If the light rail system were to go into Vancouver and then proliferate – and there is considerable local interest on both sides of the river in this happening – it would be a boon.
The I-5 bridge, and I have no clue how many times I have been over that thing, is inadequate for the traffic load it is being asked to handle. It is, as the article points out, a century old, and ever so slightly scary to cross during rush hour. Replacement is a priority, and inclusion of a light rail link across the river, to this observer, only makes sense.
The above comments are general in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. Find your own damn lawyer.
Troy – Good comment. My limited knowledge (I’ve never been to either Oregon or Washington State) is that Portland’s transit system is pretty good. A look at the map shows that Portland’s north suburbs are in Washington State. If a local agency realistically budgets for capital and for operations, and if the traffic is there to be had, I say go for it. That’s my view from the political right wing.
I don’t live in Portland but my daughter lived there until this fall when she was in school and what I noticed was how bad traffic between Portland and Vancouver WA was and how the light rail ended at the Portland border, I would think that if the light rail went over the bridge into WA it would be a huge help. Of course as always who would and how would it be paid for.