The (PDF, 2.3M) recommendations of the Independent Review Panel for the Columbia River Crossing are out. I have not had time to review them yet, but both the Governor and Mayor Adams are already spinning it.

Metro has completed a new growth forecast of population and employment, looking at various configurations of the Columbia River Crossing. While their modeling confirms that a bridge with no tolls would increase housing growth in the northern parts of Clark County (growth at the edge of the region – aka sprawl), the combination of Light…

Planning for the Columbia River Crossing, already approaching $100M, will apparently get a $42M injection from Senator Patty Murray. Anyone want to start a pool on whether planning costs for this bridge will exceed the actual construction cost of the Sellwood bridge?

I haven’t had a chance to read through it yet, but here it is (PDF, 4.4M) for your reading pleasure.

Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt proposed corridor tolling for I-5 as a Columbia River Crossing financing tool at Friday’s work session. The idea is to toll not just the crossing itself, but segments on either side of the river as well. The political motivation is to spread the costs across a greater set of users. The…