The recent truck crash that closed the southbound Interstate 5 Bridge for five hours and diverted traffic to the Interstate 205 corridor, backing up the morning commute to the Salmon Creek junction with I-5, reinforces the reasoning for a third, or even a fourth, bridge across the Columbia River in the Vancouver-Portland area.
The problem is not congestion. It is lack of lane capacity. There are too few lanes crossing the river to carry today’s volume of traffic on the combined I-5 and I-205 corridors for several hours each day, and lanes can’t be added.
The recent report of increased truck traffic since the Port of Portland a lost large-container shipment contract greatly adds to the jam-packed travel lanes.
The Columbia River Crossing elected to not do an origin-destination study of the entire Portland-Vancouver region and develop a 50-year plan to provide sufficient lane capacity for the growth that is occurring, so do it now, then program both spans for the I-5 bridge replacement and the new bridge locations for construction.
