This will come as a huge shock, but an independent panel has studied the issue in depth and has discovered - much as a similar panel discovered in the 1980's - that a new I-5 bridge over the Columbia River between Portland and Vancouver is urgently needed. Oregon "governor" Ted and Washington Queen Christine have leapt into action, directing the state transportation agencies to get back to them in a month.
The bridge should have been built 20 years ago, but funds were diverted instead to west-side light rail.
They've wasted $100 million so far, just on "planning". Clearly, we have far too many "planners" and far too many layers of government. Private enterprise, left to itself, would have delivered a new bridge by now.
They won't build a new bridge unless it's for light rail, bicycles, and/or pedestrians. You know that!
It wouldn't be GREEN.
Posted by: Sam L. | August 01, 2010 at 08:02 AM
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of cars and trucks idle in rush hour traffic, day after day, spewing pollutants into the air... more than if they were traveling at freeway speed.
This, and the oil spill, is proof positive that regressives care nothing for the environment.
Posted by: fallingpianos | August 01, 2010 at 05:30 PM
Well, there's no question that it has to be Green, and it has to be iconic. And they've spent $100 million and they haven't built squat.
Meanwhile...what FP said. Dead on.
Posted by: Max | August 01, 2010 at 05:39 PM