This blog is about the Interstate 5 Bridge Columbia River crossing between Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA.
    I'm tired of the impotent planning by the locals on this subject. For years, interstate commerce has been strangled by the traffic jam on the I-5 Interstate Bridge. Its inadequate 3 lanes in each direction are made even more inadequate by I-5 dropping from 3 lanes to 2 lanes just south of the bridge in "Delta Park" in Oregon. On the northbound approach, Portland took one of the three I-5 lanes and created the only commuter in Portland metro and maybe the only commuter lane in all of Oregon. This lane starts just north of downtown Portland and continues to just before the I-5 bridge. 
    I want to discuss the issue of the southbound slowdown at Delta Park and the northbound commuter lane, but let me first say that I understand almost 60,000 people who live in SW Washington's Clark County commute to Portland and the surrounding area daily for work. All or virtually all tithe Oregon 9% of their pay so that Clark County, WA is reportedly the 2nd largest contributor to Oregon's oppressive income tax. Still, many Oregonians complain that Washingtonians take their jobs. Washingtonians, although happy to have work, must deal with ugly commute times made worse by the fact the they have taxation without representation because even though they are the 2nd largest source of tax revenue, they don't vote in Oregon. Clark County taxpayers pay into the Oregon general fund, little of which is used for the roads that take them to and from work. Aside from the I-205 bridge east of the Portland Airport built in the 1970's, few if any highway improvements have been made in decades - maybe 50 years. Why? Good question.
        From what I understand, Portland & Oregon have finally decided to widen I-5 southbound at Delta Park to 3 lanes later this decade or early next decade. This battle has been fought literally for decades because Portland is an extremely left wing liberal city that has openly opposed automobiles and is not business friendly. What's worse is that the Clark County tax money is simply squandered when it hits the Oregon general fund. Oregon's political climate is very disappointing and a reason why the state has so many problems and has a hard time attracting vital business such as manufacturing. Oregon's hi-tech industry has languished for years and there is little promise of any sun on the horizon for Oregon's economic issues. Portland is even worse and really too bad considering what a pretty city it is, aside from the constant barrage of panhandling homeless on many street corners. Delta Park is not the only part of I-5 in Portland that only has 2 lanes, but this has the most congestion. I-5, for those of you who might not be from here, is the only north-south interstate on the West Coast and connects Mexico, America and Canada. Three lanes is hardly adequate for this interstate, let alone 2 through one of the largest cities on the West Coast. Portland will never push I-5 to more than three lanes, but adding the needed 3rd lane at Delta Park is beyond mandatory.
    I consider the northbound commuter lane on I-5 through Portland simply a stick in the eye of Washingtonians. Portlanders obviously dislike the fact that Clark County residents work in their state and taking 1/3 of the northbound lanes only during the peak traffic hours of 3-6pm Monday - Friday is their way of discouraging this from happening. There is no southbound commuter lane currently and I've never run across another in Oregon. Several times each week there is an accident or a stall reducing traffic to one lane plus a commuter lane.
    Over a year ago, after much pressure, a task force was created to address the Columbia River crossing. The vast majority, or maybe I should say almost all, of citizens believe another bridge is necessary. I have seen excellent suggestions on connecting I-5 in Washington State to other arterials in Oregon State. A 3rd crossing is a no-brainer and the only way to successfully move the metro area into this century and beyond. For some reason that escapes most everybody, a 3rd bridge option was tossed out and the Columbia River crossing task force decided to limit their charter to solely the I-5 bridge crossing. Sadly, because of this short-sighted approach, their recommendation was to replace the current 3 lane each direction I-5 bridge with another 3 lane each direction bridge with provisions for light rail and bicycles plus possible provisions for a toll plaza to pay for the replacment. A disappointing failure of brain power to be sure. 
    But why such a mind numbing failure to think? Was it the promise of light rail that blinded their senses? Estimates are that no more than 3% of commuters could possibly use the system which would connect to North Portland's light rail. The simple fact is that the Oregon's Governor and Portland's Mayor care very little about this river crossing and are not behind any improvements. Neither of the two are business or economics oriented; many of their constituents have never traveled north over the Columbia River into Washington; and they are concerned mostly with progressive liberal social issues and finding ways to get more revenue to fund their programs. On the Washington side, the Governor is far removed from what goes on and instead looks north from Olympia to Seattle and KIng County who elected her on the 3rd recount of votes. The Vancouver Mayor has his vision for his city and another highway cannot play well in his mind's eye. He is a firm believer in light rail as the end all of solutions. He is wrong about this and should expand his vision.
    When all is said and done, I think that the task force had no other options but decided they needed to generate a result instead of just saying they couldn't make it work because of the politcal situation. The naked truth here is that the Portland/Vancouver metro area needs a 3 pronged approach - more highway capacity, commuter rail and commuter buses. Currently, Southwest Washington and Portland metro has inadequate highway capacity, marginal commuter rail only in parts of Portland and some surrounding communities and bus service that is not focused on commuters, but on low-income ridership. Go to New York City, go to D.C., to Boston or to Chicago and you'll see this approach at work and you'll still see problems. None of these cities could work without all three and they put these in place many years ago when they were much smaller than they are now. 
    Our metro area cannot successfully move into this century in a economically sound and business friendly manner without a common sense plan that address realities. To get this done, we need our elected federal Congressmen and state Congressmen plus local public officials to get behind a plan that will work today and into the future. No more non-sense, no more poor decisions by local task forces just happy to put a task force on their resume, and mostly no more short-sightedness. Let's embrace the future smartly. Add a 3rd or 4th bridge or tunnels, build commuter rail and build a commuter bus system for people who commute, not the poor to go to the mall. Smartly invest in the future.