I am writing in regards to the Columbia River Crossing debate. I am currently a student at WSU Vancouver and in many of my classes we have discussed this debate heavily. It is important to understand and relate to the concerns of many citizens who commute using the Interstate 5 Bridge and that putting a toll up will not solve things, but make them much worse.
Currently both I-5 and Interstate 205 suffer from traffic that sometimes can take hours to get through. Inserting a toll at the I-5 Bridge will not help move traffic. People will stop using the I-5 Bridge and start using I-205, which already has its fair share of traffic. We aren’t solving the problem, we’re just moving the problem to a redirected area that will only make it much worse.
I think many citizens of our county will agree that a toll is not the answer. If things are going to change we need something that will benefit our community in the long run. A toll is only creating more problems and unnecessary costs for many of our citizens who use this bridge.
Let’s take a stand together, as a community, and tell our leaders what is right for the community.