Why we are in the fix we're in across the Columbia? In 1958, ODOT, then the Highway Department, converted the original 1917 arterial bridge (which even had an inter-urban rail line at one point) into the northbound I-5 freeway. It was the typical Oregon "on the cheap" way of doing things in those days. They never built a real freeway bridge across the River!
Now ODOT should just give us a replacement arterial bridge, put light rail and bike/ped facilities on it, and remove a few of the excess on/off ramps so the freeway works worth a damn.
Oh, and to pay for the deal charge the same toll we paid for the '58 bridge adjusted for inflation...about $5 in-bound only.

We can easily replace the current CRC with a bridge that traverses the Columbia in a straight line. We're choosing to complicate that option, so we have to deal with the results.

It's like banning breeder reactors, but a helluva lot easier.

Chris,

Did you even read Sarasohn's article? Sounds to me like he is opposing the rush, not endorsing s bridge type. If you're going to summarize the news, you gotta read it buddy.

N

Read it twice :-)

I took away the conclusion that he thinks we should have done this 15 years ago.

Be heard at the Oregon Transportation Commission's meeting tomorrow morning in Salem:

http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/COMM/otc_main.shtml

Lobby the members of the Senate and the House Transportation Committees while you are there:

http://www.leg.state.or.us/comm/

See you there!

Fair enough, but that is different than favoring a truss bridge, or even indicating that we should hurry up. His last line seems to pretty clearly indicate that he's concerned that we aren't taking the time to get the right bridge...