Another group has slammed the "Columbia River Crossing" (when did the insistence upon coming up with cute names for everything, no matter how mundane, come about, anyway?). This taxpayer advocacy group assembled a detailed report for Congress that identifies easy and painless ways to save $2 trillion during this budget cycle.
Right up there among them - kill the "CRC":
Instead, the report suggests dozens of projects that should be cut, including the Columbia River Crossing Bridge, which would save $1.25 billion. The report argues that the proposed highway-transit bridge over the Columbia River would only reduce morning commute times by 60 seconds. It also argues that the state transportation department’s justification for the project is based on faulty traffic projections. “Congress should deny state requests for one-third of the project’s billion dollar price tag and require more cost-effective alternatives,” concludes the report.
This should drive the Lefties even further around the bend; they've blown over $160 million and come up with nothing but a cute name for a bridge project. Their design results in a bridge that would impede maritime navigation, and which therefore stands no chance of receiving a permit.
They can't make the bridge any higher, however, because the Lefties are insisting that it must feature light rail; one one of the many drawbacks there is that steel wheels on steel rails impose grade limitations - this is why Portland's much-ballyhooed "transit-only" bridge over the Willamette River is so low. The difference there is that with the exception of tour boats, there is no longer any commercial river traffic to the south of the new bridge's location.
As the only business affected involved the operators of the Portland Spirit sight-seeing tub, and TriMet paid them a million dollars to shorten the height of the boat so that it can fit under their new bridge. They can't bribe their way to a shorter height at the I-5 location. Increasingly, that thing looks like a non-starter. Maybe they can sell the name to someone for $160 million.
