The famous Aerial Tram shut down today for a bit, because wind gusts occasionally hit 40 miles an hour. Who'd ever have thought? We almost never get wind gusts that high, sitting here at the mouth of the funnel that is the Columbia River Gorge. Fire up the buses, boys! You'd almost think this ski-lift was thought up by the same folks who bring you light rail - because we never get ice storms here. Oh, wait...
Now they want to sell you a bridge, for only <snicker> $6 billion. Like our $15 million tram? Oh, never mind the cost overruns. That tram thing ran close to $60 million, but hey. But some guy came up with a great idea: forget the super-bridge - build 40 or 50 trams to carry traffic between Portland and Vancouver. The idea has great potential. Less expensive, and would take thousands of cars off the freeway. Unless it gets breezy. As Ted Kennedy might say, "We'll drive off that bridge when we come to it".