The Columbian’s Dec. 12 editorial,”In Our View,” discussed reopening the Columbia River Crossing talks. Previously, the CRC failed to gain local support and was not approved by the Washington Legislature. The editorial suggested that a new bridge have the capacity to add light rail later and tolls are a reality (tolls could be pre-paid and electronically debited so traffic would continue moving).
Another issue was that the bridge would be high, above downtown Vancouver. Since this could affect businesses as drivers would by-pass downtown, some downtown Vancouver businesses were opposed to the new bridge.
In addition, even though the bridge would be high, it would not be high enough for the ships of one upstream company that would have to be paid off.
Was a plan to build another drawbridge, but larger and high enough for most barges and sailboats, ever considered? There could be restrictions on opening the bridge (which would need to be opened only for the largest vessels) to very low traffic times such as between 1 and 4 a.m. If this option is considered, our downtown merchants would not literally be passed over and the upstream shipping company would still have access.
