Reading The Columbian lately, it has become clear to me that the reason for the Columbia River Crossing is light rail and it is to be forced on the people of Southwest Washington.
That would be a light-rail line that would go from Vancouver slowly up Interstate Avenue through one of the worst areas of Portland and take twice as long to get to downtown Portland as it would on the bus.
There is no excuse for this boondoggle. Kill it.
CRC supporters have not been able to make a case for the traffic problem, and widening the bridge would be like connecting a one inch hose to a four inch hose and expecting to get more than one inch of water through it.
The corridor between Vancouver and the Marquam Bridge is maxed out.
The only way to make I-5 work is to take more traffic off of it, and the way to do that is a cutoff from Woodland to Hillsboro in Oregon and reconnecting to it well to the south.