A personal message from Council President David Bragdon

This morning's meeting of the Columbia River Crossing Project Council brought to light even more troubling concerns about the state highway divisions' controversial proposal. While many of us support a replacement crossing because of the age of the existing structures and the lack of transit between the two communities, the more we learn about the highway divisions' particular proposed solution to that problem, the more it seems their version of a project would actually cause more harmful impacts than positive ones.

The following account describes one example of what a Portland resident referred to as the project's "bait and switch" technique of promising one thing in theory and then delivering something else in reality. As that witness described at this morning's hearing, for three years he and his neighbors were promised that one of the positive attributes of the new crossing would be improvements for the residents of Hayden Island. But as details become clearer, the residents discovered that the specific plans being pushed by the highway divisions would obliterate existing businesses and create a large barrier through the community. That's just one piece of the story, but it's another indication that we will need to re-double our efforts to scrutinize all the claims and costs being put forward by the highway divisions about this particular proposal.

There are many good reasons to build a new Columbia River Crossing – improved infrastructure is vital to our nation's recovery. We should keep those objectives in mind and continue working toward a version of the CRC that will have a positive economic impact, expedite the flow of freight, and improve our communities – at a price that is within our capacity to pay through our taxes and tolls. It's increasingly evident that the version of the project being pushed by the highway divisions won't do any of those things, and is unlikely to gain support and funding. We should urgently get on with the task of devising a version that does.