A new analysis concludes that a bigger Interstate 5 bridge across the Columbia River will have a negligible effect in fueling sprawl in Clark County, assuming the new bridge comes with tolls and an extension of Portland’s light rail transit system into Vancouver.
The conclusion seemed to allay the concerns of at least one elected official who has grown increasingly critical of the project this year.
Metro council President David Bragdon said his gut feeling had been that the bigger bridge would fuel a new land rush in Clark County, where a third of the work force already crosses the river to work in Oregon. Bragdon and Portland Mayor Sam Adams expressed concern that a 10- or 12-lane replacement for the existing twin three-lane drawbridges wouldn’t do any good if it quickly clogged the freeway with even more commuters from Clark County.
The analysis concluded that the big bridge would increase growth pressure in Clark County, but that pressure would be offset by the imposition of tolls.
The toll is assumed to be $2 each way.
Bragdon said the new analysis moves him closer to supporting the $3.6 billion project, even though he’s still concerned about the cost and its effect on neighborhoods.
“Certainly, this makes it much easier,” Bragdon said. “It certainly addresses one of my concerns, yeah.”
Four months ago, Bragdon told The Columbian that the project was “stalled right now because the states are trying to force this monster down our region’s throat.” The project office subsequently agreed to pay the $90,700 cost of Metro running the sophisticated analysis of the project’s effect on population and employment trends in Clark, Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties.
Each of the analyzed scenarios assumed other highway and transit construction projects would alleviate congestion elsewhere around Portland-Vancouver.
That’s a big if, according to a Portland-area environmentalist who has been critical of the bridge.
“This analysis assumes we will have billions of dollars for other projects around the region,” said Mara Gross, policy director for the Coalition for a Livable Future in Portland. “We won’t have much money for anything else if we build the megabridge.”
Clark County Commissioner Steve Stuart, who serves with Bragdon on a high-level advisory committee for the project, said he found it interesting that a no-toll scenario appeared to create an additional 700 jobs in Clark County when compared with a tolled scenario.
“It actually makes the case that it is better for the jobs-housing balance in Clark County not to have tolls,” Stuart said.
However, he added that the numbers are relatively small compared to total population and employment.
The analysis found that Clark County would add almost 1,000 more households by the year 2030 with the project as proposed. A new bridge without tolls would boost the number of new households by 1,800 to a total 251,300 Clark County households two decades from now.
Erik Robinson: 360-735-4551 or erik.robinson@columbian.com.
