ITS DEAD... AGAIN

About 8 months ago we called this thing dead. Somehow certain governors didn't get the memo. But this week we are told the Oregon legislature has given up on funding it. Which is great news because it was pretty absurd that we would build a massive freeway expansion without the help or coordination of Washington State, nevermind that the project would spend billions of dollars expanding the interstate around Vancouver.

Ugh. Bad ideas can last a while.

This is our 44th posting to this blog. we hope it will be our last.
 

Bing Blog the Which is Where?

Ding! Dong! The Witch is dead!

The CRC, a massive highway expansion project to place 5 lanes of travel from SW Washington into a 2-lane bottle neck, may have finally breathed its last breath.

Or on its deathbed?  Fatally wounded? Maybe a zombie? Okay fine, it could just be playing possum. It is rather confusing. Take, for example the fact the CRC office has admitted defeat and initially decided that it would spend the next 6 months packing up the office.

Curious. Ya know how sometimes ya hear people ask, "who does your hair?" we have a similar question about who is cutting their checks.

Either way the little guys celebrated a victory. We have been in the business of trying to encompass this titanic behemoth of 1950s design for so long (this blog itself has been pumping out the hits since Spring of 2009) we are not completely sure what we will do now.

We would like to believe that our reporting and testimony means something to the people who would call themselves our "representatives". But what really killed it was that Olympia doesn't like Vancouver (Washington) very much (in fairness it is mutual).

The fact is as long as there are people benefiting from bad design we will continue to get more sprawl and more of all the crap that comes with it. We should stay vigilant as these insane projects are popping up all the time. Meanwhile everywhere our infrastructure is failing.

At least there are good opportunities for lols. 

Office of Executive Abuse

[trigger warning, this post makes sexual assault analogies]

 News that Washington Goveneor's veto of the Senate's Columbia River Crossing plan rocked the few dozen people paying attention to every detail so you might have missed this somewhat important news.

Legislators had allocated $81 million to the CRC for 2013-15, far short of the $450 million identified as Washington’s share. Aware of concerns that including light-rail track below the project’s bridge deck could hamper navigation on the Columbia River, Benton, vice chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, wanted that money to pay for a redesign of the project to make sure it would meet Coast Guard requirements.

When that effort was blocked by the committee’s Democratic co-chair and others, Benton spearheaded a move to set nearly all of the new allocation aside until the Coast Guard’s permit decision, expected later this year. If the Coast Guard endorses the design the remaining money will be released for further work; if not it must be used to redesign the project – which almost certainly will eliminate the light-rail extension from Portland.

via http://donbenton.src.wastateleg.org/benton-praises-governor-for-veto-of-crc-funding/

This is pretty great news for people who think the CRC as designed is an abomination of design, set to wreck havoc on Cascadian budgets, transportation and environmental systems.*

Still this is no time to relax. You can bet the mysteriously inept, yet powerful forces behind the CRC will continue to push for more money to waste trying to figure out how to fit a round peg into a square hole. Over the past few months both the Oregon and Washington Governors have regularly pressured the legislature into taking premature action. Saying we must act now to take advantage of the paltry amount of federal money** that might be made available should everything else work out. Governors Inslee and Kitzhaber repeating "It is now or never" like some sort of creepy sexual predator, pushing their innocent partner into having sex before the magic spell is broken. If the trusting partner agrees they will be promptly used and disregarded, their phone calls and pleas for open communication ignored, while the predator, indifferent to anything but their own desires, will move on to the next conquest.

They decided now wasn't the time. How long do you think it will take for a Cascadian politician to use this line again? (We have created a poll on the side bar, vote now!)

This sort of behavior should not be rewarded. We must raise our voices and work to organize against these abusive, manipulative Governors. Together we can stop the transit rape.

*in other words, the vast majority of people
** try this game with a friend: ask for $4000, tell them if they act now you will give them $750. 

Savior from the North

Bizarro World keeps turning. As if watching the Oregon Legislature approve to fast track funds for the CRC a couple weeks ago was not insane enough, having Olympia step in to say, "OMG CRC WTF" was nearly as stunning.

With the appearance of federal transportation director Ray LaHood in Olympia standing beside the Washington Governor pleading that "it is now or never" many were convinced that Washington would soon find itself in a similar position as Oregon pushing the Columbia River Crossing forward and that all of the Northwest could all rest easy snuggled up in a blanket of debt, forever.

But thank be to logic for the Senators and Representatives in the state of Washington have balked on "keeping up with the Joneses". According to this other CRC hating blog, the Columbia River Crossing might be dead in the water (or unsound in the Sound, perhaps?)

Sure, the added pressure of having a neighbor pay 450 million dollars for a big hunk of infrastructure might give the backers of the CRC some clout, but then perhaps those members didn't count on the Washington legislature to say, "Vancouver? That's in Canada!" 

The state of Washington has some major road projects in the works and most of their big highway improvement dollars are not leaving the vicinity of the Sound. Asking for legislatures to commit all their dollars for what most in Olympia view as a "Portland project" especially when the Representatives from Vancouver are decrying the project as a boondoggle.

We hadn't expected conservative neighbors to the north to be our saviors, but if they can kill this project we may be sending them a candygram.

Vancouver Rally to Stop the CRC

With the Oregon legislature expediting wasteful spending the fate of Cascadia turns to Washington where they hate tolls almost as much as they hate lightrail. They have even organized a rally coming up soon!
 
We shall not go quietly. Gather the forces and connect with others!

Date: Friday, March 29th.
Time: 2:30pm to 4:00pm; 4:00 to 6:00pm – Post-Rally Social Gathering

Location: Grand Ballroom at the Vancouver Red Lion at the Quay, 100 Columbia Street, Vancouver, WA 98660


Want more info? Here the organizing group's website: http://www.crcfacts.info/

Bizarro Bridge stumbles on

 Bizarro World has come to Cascadia:

• The Governor did a complete 180 and has now pushed a pro CRC bill through the House.
• The majority of Oregon's environmental groups have been eerily silent about the biggest construction project to happen between Seattle and San Francisco.
• Everyone seems to be comfortable with going into massive debt, possibly because they don't think they will be alive to suffer the consequences.

In short, a region that is world redound for smart transportation will try to build itself out of a traffic jam.

How are we to measure the onslaught of colossal failure that is sure to come? Will we time the commute for a Vancouver resident? The cancer-carrying capacity of a child's lungs living near the I-5 bottleneck? The number of trees consumed by the shoddy environmental impact studies? The gigawatts of electricity used by bloggers decrying it as a waste? The number and variety of metrics for how much this is going to suck is mind-blowing!

But rather than looking ahead to the misery, let us focus the present. Our opponents would love for us to roll over and allow them to rape our future. I advocate we use our voice and tell them to stop. Now.

By Monday, March 4th you must call your Senator

Here is our simple 4 step plan:
1 - consider why it is that you hate this project. There is an impressive list of reasons below
2 - look up your legislator in the Oregon Senate
3 - Call your Senators office
4 - Make someone you care about repeat steps 1-3


This will take ~180 seconds of your life. That is probably less time than you spent reading this. 

 

You may hear a great number of reasons this bridge must be built. Lets examine them:

* Bridge Safety
Pro CRC folks will say the current bridge is old and should be replaced. They won't mention that the people whose job it is to keep an eye on this stuff, The Army Corps of Engineers, says the current I-5 Bridge has a higher safety rating than Portland’s Marquam Bridge, and 29 other bridges in the Oregon highway system. Also notable is that there are many more accidents occurring on the Marquam Bridge. If we want to improve safety, this would be a good place to start.

* Bridge Lifts
"A red light on an interstate?!?" Well it does sound like a bad idea, but ask how many times it happens during rush hour. For the 300+ lifts every year only a handful are during peak traffic. We wont lie, it sucks being stuck in traffic, but even according to the CRC's own website - "Bridge lifts cause vehicles to stop on I-5 for up to 20 minutes at a time to allow river traffic on the Columbia River to pass." Can you believe that? 20 Minutes! And yet we have among the shortest commutes of any west coast city. I guess the only reasonable thing to do is make sure we try and shave one minute off the commute to Vancouver, WA.

* Future Traffic
They say we have to plan for the future of traffic and we should expect traffic to get worse, but traffic is not getting worse. There have been fewer and fewer bridge crossings over the past five years. This trend means A) there would be less money from the tolls we would be collecting and B) we dont need to replace a working bridge.

* Freight Economy
Most everything gets put on a truck at some point in its life so it is pretty important. Strangely, the CRC proponents would have you believe that truck drivers are not smart enough to avoid traffic. Truckers should be offended! If the pro-CRC people were actually worried about freight they would be working on making the railroad bridge a few miles downriver. For 1/20th of the cost of the CRC we could fix the railroad crossing. Speaking of moving big boxes of stuff, our own Coast Guard says the current CRC design is too low, preventing some ships from sailing upriver. Sure enough maritime business upstream is fighting mad that our tax dollars are going towards this "solution" to the problem of moving stuff around. But dont worry we are make more jobs by moving the company to another location downstream.

* Wasting Funds
We are told that we should support it because we have spent millions on the plan. That if we dont spend billions than all those millions will be lost. Can you imagine a doctor talking about gang green in a similar fashion? "It has spread to your leg and is growing. We could amputate, but maybe we should wait." Only in this case the doctor caused the infection and will get money money if the patient dies.

* Jobs
For sure, we can spend a lot of money and employ a lot of people. But considering the epic scale of this freeway expansion project one would hope these jobs that we are creating will be around for a while. When the Pro-CRC camp talks about the 20,000 jobs they are creating they mean they are expecting 2,000 job increase over ten years. 2,000 x 10 years = 20,000. More accurate analysis showed that there will be an increase of about 1,150 temporary jobs.  We are all for making jobs but there are plenty of ways to make something better for cheaper. But this is Bizarro Cascadia. The workplace may soon be very, very different.

Please sign our petition to stop the CRC project and ask lawmakers to consider many alternatives. ( Like the CSA - Common Sense Alternative )
Click here URL: http://goo.gl/IrW89

http://signon.org/sign/stop-the-5-billion-crc

Here's a myth spread by Oregon Democrats:
There's no need to take action to stop the 12 lane freeway costing $5 billion. It will never get funding. Reality: The Governor and House majority leader have included $400 million in their budget for 2013

It is up to every voter to call or join our petition to spend our money better.  The Legislature has a majority of support and the check will be in the mail.

List of phone numbers:  http://goo.gl/WXCjN

quote: "The Democrat’s proposed 2013-15 budget includes $450 million for the CRC. That’s roughly the share Oregon is expected to come up with as part of the project’s $3.5 billion price tag. CRC planners are banking on Washington lawmakers to commit about the same amount, though project leaders have suggested that may not have to come all at once.

Kitzhaber’s budget outline doesn’t guarantee funding for the CRC — far from it. That will ultimately be up to the Oregon Legislature, which convenes in January"

http://www.columbian.com/news/2012/nov/30/oregon-gov-recommends-key-crc-funding/

Hey CRC, Pay me! Pay me!

The comic stylings from those zanny folks at the Columbia River Crossing just dont stop. Here is the latest from their desk which might as well be accompanied by a cartoon strip:

For tall sailboats and yachts, the CRC proposes pulling them out of the water and towing them around the bridge. Another idea: acquiring the vessel and “taking it out of service so that the user no longer has a vessel that needs to transit under the new bridges.” - wweek

Also they want vessles to just take their mast down.

They have not yet suggested that boats float in from the other direction, possibly taking a cruise around Tierra del Fuego or the Cape of Good Hope, but I figure that suggestion will be forthcoming soon.

So now I am left wondering, how do I get a job at the Columbia River Crossing? I am sure I could do just as good a job as they have done ignoring advice, thumbing their nose at government officials and generally offending the local population. That plus I am also qualified at creating things that are absurdly dysfunctional.

Hire me! CRC! I have lots of experience and will need health care from all the cars you are planning on cramming down my throat.

President demands bridge... also wants pony

This article in the Willamette Week reveals a happy truth to the startling news that President Obama has given the Columbia River Crossing "Expedited Status"

'Obama is not the first president to offer such encouragement to the CRC', the Wweek noted, 'President Bush ordered the same expedited status in 2008. But neither Bush nor Obama offered anything more than encouragement. 

Permitting has not been the issue, as local, state and federal agencies have rubber-stamped the plan developed by the Washington and Oregon Departments of Transportation.

What is preventing construction is that no one wants to pay for it. And why should anyone want to pay to replace a working bridge that is rated better than the bridge, which a few miles south of the CRC as you leave Portland on I-5 (the Marquam Bridge)

But Congress—which is supposed to provide a third of the $3.5 billion cost—is not looking to send money to blue states these days; neither Washington or Oregon's Legislatures have approved the $450 million each state is supposed to provide; and the projected toll revenues that are to provide the final third have been found to be wildly inaccurate.

 Even looking at USA Today's coverage the press release stating support from the White House seemed tepid, even passive. (note the other projects listed request 25 million for a bridge in Maine and 89 million for railroads in Washington, as opposed to the 3500 million for the CRC. That's TWO extra zeros if you weren't paying attention.)

Finally our favorite economist, Joe Cortright offered some scathing words for the project costing taxpayers a million dollars each month:

"The sooner the CRC faces its day of reckoning, the sooner we can stop wasting money on a project that we don't need, can't afford, and doesn't solve the region's transportation problems," says Portland economist Joe Cortright, a longtime critic of the project.

 Thanks for setting the record straight!

Back That Quotable Ass Up

  "Simply put, it's Orwellian -- our tax dollars are being used to deliberately hide inconvenient facts from the public's eyes," said Evan Manvel who has worked against the CRC project for the Coalition for a Livable Future. "Taxpayers and legislators should be outraged."

This quote via an article in the Columbian that calls into question the role of the Oregon Dept Of Transportation (ODOT). Are they the states auto mechanic, or are they a car salesman?

Oh. They are both.

Now unless you have a close, trusting relationship your mechanic/salesman you probably want to have them be separate entities. If not, you would certainly raise an eyebrow if every time your car needed a repair their suggestion would be to scrap it and buy a hummer-limo.

Forget "picking the kids up from the pool" try putting a pool in your car!

But even Hummer-limos are cheap compared to the cost of the Columbia River Crossing. Estimates hover between 3-8 billion dollars, which might seem like a lot for a bridge, but then this is more than just a new bridge, its a massive freeway expansion project.

ODOT spokesman Don Hamilton said both the northbound span, built in 1917, and the southbound span, finished in 1958, were rated as functionally obsolete in their 2011 inspections.

 
Manvel called the definition of a 'functionally obsolete' bridge a "term of art."

"I just think their spin machine is in full cycle," Manvel said. "They're working to remove anything that undermines their case. If we can't trust the information they're putting out on their own web page, why would we trust them in their new reports?"

He pointed out that the states lack money for the maintenance they need to do now, let alone find more funding for large new projects like the CRC.

ODOT is in a difficult place.  On one hand this governmental body is advocating for taxpayers to pay for the largest, most expensive infrastructure the region has ever known, and on the other hand it is responsible for providing info about the status of the current infrastructure to be replaced. For those following the project, this sort of conflicting interest, along with the numerous inconsistencies (such as their models showing traffic levels increasing over the next 20 years when they have also reported that traffic has decreased over the past 20 years)  has caused a significant credibility gap in our regional planners.

Drilling Holes In Their Arguments

They claim they are not building anything yet, that this is just a test. However considering the "hell or high-water" stance the pro CRC folks have been using I wouldn't be surprised if the building equipment that has appeared on the Oregon banks of the Columbia river near the I-5 bridge just stuck around for a while, slowly getting us all used to its presence so that we wouldn't be at all alarmed when we hear:

"The bridge? Oh, we have already started building and can't stop. But don't worry we will have a lot of people you can trust making sure it is done right."

Curious thing, trust. It is something that is usually earned rather than simply given. Moreover when trust is broken it usually takes twice as much work to regain the lost trust.

This organization of bumbling bureaucrats has already spent $140 million of your tax dollars on the project. So far they have tried to deceive us by telling us that traffic is getting worse, when their own projections prove otherwise.  They say it will make traffic smoother, when their own projections say that at best drivers will save one minute.

Never mind that they have avoided answering questions pertaining to how they will protect, fish and wildlife the original source of currency in the region, how it will affect air quality due to moving the bottle neck closer to the city (because all 8-12 lanes become 4 at the Rose Quarter, just where their construction stops), or even something as simple and tangible as how they plan to pay for it.

But we are to trust them because even though they have lied to us in the past and continue to lie to us now, they are really telling the truth about the future when they promise they will stop lying to us.

We may be in an abusive relationship...

DTMFA

The bridge that couldn't get it up

Heyo, its been a while since we checked in but as it turns out the powers that be have still not given up on this embarrassment they call a "public works project." Im all for spending money to build things, but it would be nice if those things didn't cost us

A) massive, untold environmental destruction
B) 3-10 BILLION (thats NINE zeros people )


 What factor could be worth all this?

Clearly this bridge is about jobs...  killing the few jobs we have left that is:
 http://www.columbian.com/news/2012/mar/02/official-planned-bridge-too-low/

A pretty damning article if we have ever read one. 

YIKES! What do you suppose we can do to make it more absurd?

well since we are not updating this blog very often you may want to join a Facebook group where we got this bit of news: http://www.facebook.com/groups/flatbridgenow/

Ready to do something?

You may have heard about some coming to senses by our local politicians. We are naturally thrilled to have all the help we can get, but lets not rest on our laurels. This thing is still costing taxpayers more than a million every month and it will keep costing us lots of money until it is over.


GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION!
SAT. OCT. 24TH
PIONEER SQUARE

In anticipation of climate talks in Copenhagen this December, a world-wide "350 Campaign" (www.350.org) is hitting the planet THIS SATURDAY - October 24th. With over 15 events in Portland & 1,000s around the world, Help us connect the dots to the biggest LOCAL opportunity to make an impact on GLOBAL climate change: Stopping the CRC Highway Megabridge!

we want real transportation policies that address global warming!
WE NEED YOU: our amazing no-CRC volunteers. Please see which of the volunteer teams below you can join, and help us make a big change on Saturday! Email volunteer@stopthecrc.org for more info.

prep team:

Thurs 12pm - 4pm

Fri 1pm - 9pm

We need help making more bike flags and rally signs, and making more buttons. If you can help during any of the times listed above, email volunteer@stopthecrc.org to get location details, and come help us make more stuff!!

march team:
12:15pm Meet on PSU Campus in the park blocks just north of the farmer's market. Look for No CRC banner. Help pass out signs to folks with No CRC messages, We pose for a photo-op, then march to the rally. Chalk along the route, pass out flyers. Wear green! Bring a sign if you're feelin' it in public!

bike team:
12:00pm
Meet at Col. Summers Park (20th & SE Belmont). Rain or Shine! Help zip-tie bike flags to folks' bikes. Pass out flyers at the rally. Represent in the streets! We ride to the rally via the Hawthorne Bridge! volunteer@stopthecrc.org


SIGN IDEAS --->
More Lanes =
More Cars =
More CO2

Mobility for People not Cars!

CRC: Highway to Climate Hell!

CRC: Highway to Climate Chaos
-------------------------------------------------

Thanks to StoptheCRC.org for organizing!

Talking Bicyle Heads Ride

Tonight David Byrne is speaking at the Baghdad Theater on SE 37th and Hawthorne in Portland, Oregon. Its gonna be a uber bike dork extravaganza with Mia Burke, Timo Fosberg, and Jonathan Maus all speaking about their uber dorky bike experiences.

Byrne is pimping his new book Bicycle Diaries. And making the older kids go crazy.

What does this have to do with the Columbia River Crossing? As it turns out Byrne is an outspoken supporter of not spending 4 billion dollars to increase car capacity into the suburbs.

Naturally a bike ride is happening in conjunction.

Talking (Bicycle) Heads Ride!
Wednesday 9/30
9pm
Backstage Bar
3702 SE Hawthorne

Join the discussion about the CRC and belt out some tunes

Get your Face(book) out there and do something.

Another citizen has joined the rising clamor of outspoken denouncement of the current Columbia River Crossing.

But more than just writing about it online (and hoping other people read, agree and share it with others) Daniel James Ronan has gone the next step and created a Facebook group!

Sure, new media is always despised. So if you hate using technology to share your opinions and learn new things you are not required to click on this link that will let you join the group.

Strange how challenging it can be to properly filter out the vast amount of crap that is available to read about anything and nothing. Seems like as soon as the mouse trap improves the mice get smarter too.



Photo Credit to Sarah Mirk of the Portland Mercury

So many meetings so little time

It has got to be hard building a massive bridge. You gotta get lots of little detail work done, papers filed, taxes levied... it's work!

That is part of why Oregon Governor Kulongoski made 30 million available for the CRC. It is gonna take a lot of money to convince all these people that their kids should be saddled with a massive debt.

But it takes more then money. Like George Burns said, timing is everything. So why have one community meeting when you can have two, at the same time!

* CRC community meeting @ Former Hayden Island Yacht Club
12050 N Jantzen Drive
Portland, OR 97217
Thu, September 10, 7:00pm – 8:30pm

* CRC community meeting @ Vancouver Housing Authority
2500 Main Street
Vancouver, WA 98660
Thu, September 10, 7pm – 9pm

Not enough meeting in your Thursday diet? This could help us loose our shirt and our lunch.

* Congestion Pricing Meeting @ Metro Regional Center
council chamber
600 NE Grand Ave., Portland
Thu, September 10, 12pm – 1pm

The idea that some force is conspiring to keep CRC opposition as diffuse as possible would be considered strange, outlandish even. What does our government have to fear from its people?

So more volunteers are needed to help ask the right questions.

Todays burning question is: Why are so many people willing to burden the future for their own comfort?

Couve Traffic Warning

TRAFFIC ALERT

ALL THOSE DRIVING IN THE CITY OF VANCOUVER[break] IN THE STATE OF WASHINGTON[break] TODAY ON THE DATE OF 9/4/09[break] BETWEEN THE HOURS OF FIVE PM AND TEN PM[break] TAKE WARNING. ON THESE STREETS

• SEVENTH
• EIGHTH
• NINTH
• TENTH

YOU WILL BE ASKED TO GO AROUND[freak].WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE

Car-Free Couve

Vancouver Car Free day is this Friday!
September 4th from 5pm - 10pm,
On swanky Main St between 6th and 11th.






There is no telling what will happen in that space. It was only a couple months ago that a naked cyclist was arrested after being hit by a cop car.

Most Portland Bikers:
A) loose their frigging minds over Sunday Parkways and
B) do not happen upon car free streets in Vancouver often.

Therefore I invite you all to join me, revphil (the top score holding writing person on this whole blog) on a bike ride from Farragut Park (7700 N Vancouver Ave) to Car-Free Vancouver
We will meet at 4pm and ride shortly after 5pm.



My Amazing google skills demonstrate the northern Delta Park to I-5 bike path.

View Larger Map
There will probably not be a truck blocking the way tomorrow.



That this has not been more publicized (or even publicized at all?) is of significant concern. Internet searches for Vancouver Car Free Day 2009 (w/ a variety of non-BC qualifiers, and relevant dates and places) came up with no results for anything from Southwest Washington.

Is Car-Free Couve totally underground?

Is Greg Raisman the next Jonathan Maus? maybe not but we are thankful for his photo just the same.

volunteer to help

Sometimes folks feel daunted by the massive force that is pushing the CRC agenda. While it is true that the people working to oppose the CRC do not have a newly approved 30 million dollar budget, it is also true that the opposition have people. But they always need more and your opportunity to join in the fight is coming up soon!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

email volunteer[-AT-]stopthecrc[-DOT-]org to get on board with any or all of these events:

Vancouver Peace & Justice Fair
http://vancouverpeaceandjusticefair.org/
Saturday, Sept. 12th
9am – 4pm
Esther Short Park
8th and Columbia St.
Vancouver, Washington

We are looking for folks to table as we connect and network with Vancouver’s progressive community. Two cities, one love! Help represent & create a unified Vancouver, Portland resistance to the CRC!

Muddy Boot
http://muddyboot.org/
Saturday, Sept. 12th
12pm – 6:30pm
and
Sunday, Sept. 13th
12pm – 6pm
St. Philip Neri Church
2408 SE 16th Avenue (near 18th & Division)
Portland, Oregon

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
lots more volunteer specific info available over at:
http://stopthecrc.wordpress.com/2009/08/28/help-us-outreach-at-2-events-sept-12-13th/

Surveying the Messes

A friend saw the link to the CRC's Tolling Survey and was motivated to share his feelings:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




1. Bridge Expansion is Assumed to be a Settled Decision

The existence of a toll is taken for granted by the entire survey. The reality that expanding the bridge, as well as applying a bridge toll, are matters that are still in question is never made plain. Nowhere does the survey ask whether the person being surveyed supports or does not support a bridge toll.


2. Variable-Rate Tolling May Not Serve the Traveler

Variable-rate tolling may be used to create the illusion of lowering costs for the traveler, while actually increasing profits for toll collectors. The base toll rate may be set at a level that guarantees a profit during off-peak hours, and an excess of profit during peak hours. It can become a means to collect more money at the times when people find it most necessary to cross the bridge.

Variable-rate tolling also discriminates against people who cannot vary their travel schedules (which is most people who work set hours).


3. Possible Implications of Electronic Tolling

Electronic tolling. Does that mean electronic enforcement and fining through the use of photographic traffic enforcement technology?

More cameras monitoring citizen activity?




4. Inaccurate/Potentially Misleading Information

Question 12 states:

“Tolling both the I-5 and I-205 bridges over the Columbia River, instead of tolling just the I-5 Columbia River bridge, could result in lower toll rates, more traffic improvements, and less traffic congestion on both the I-5 and I-205 highways. Knowing this, how supportive of tolling both the I-5 and I-205 bridges are you?”

If the tolling is split between the two bridges so that the cost of an individual toll is lowered, how will this result in more traffic improvements? The only way there could be more traffic improvements is if the original toll fee being split were inflated. For example, if a toll on the I-5 bridge were originally $4, and that amount was shared by the I-205 bridge, then each bridge would then have a toll of $2. The net result would be the identical $4. However, if the idea is only to create the illusion of a reduced toll fee, while making the net income from both bridges $5 or $6, then of course there would be more profits generated for more traffic “improvements.”

As for the claim that tolls on both bridges will create less traffic congestion, I see no logical correlation between the two factors.