On July 24, this paper printed a story about Vancouver’s streets being overcrowded from freeway traffic trying to avoid the I-5 bottleneck (“Interstate 5 overflow snarls city streets”). Although the story was in a newspaper, it wasn’t news.
The writer did not address why this condition exists and who is responsible. Transportation specialists have tried to bring sanity to this situation, but the extreme left politicians in Portland, Vancouver and Olympia refuse to acknowledge the reality that we need more bridges across the Columbia.
Imagine if the west-side bypass through Washington County carried the bulk of freight and other traffic using the West Coast’s main corridor. A simple east-side bridge that avoids Portland is common sense, but not to our beloved rulers.
Their egos prevent them from working with rational groups to solve the problems. They lack the courage to stand up to the wackos who oppose anything related to automobiles. Their last plan was to replace a six-lane bridge with a $3 billion bridge with six through lanes and light rail. Now they want to put tolls on both freeways. Does that reduce congestion? Some people have no choice.
