I read the March 2 story “‘Northwest Passage’ proposal stirs debate” and figured I’d throw in my two cents. I’ve lived all around the Portland/Vancouver area, on both sides of several bridges, and I’ve seen a lot of the traffic.
If I were in charge, I’d add three bridges and a tunnel. The first bridge would be from about Troutdale, Ore., to Washougal. This would ease some of the bridge traffic across I-205, which would make it a better option to some of the I-5 Bridge travelers. Next, I would want two bridges put in — one between Cougar and the St. Helens/Scappoose, Ore., area, and one between Sauvie Island and North Portland. That pair would route a bunch of truck traffic out of the cities and directly into the industrial area in North Portland.
The tunnel would be for the MAX line that Portland desperately wants to run into Vancouver. This way you wouldn’t need a new bridge, causing further gridlock during construction, and you could run it where you want to without buying up as much of the land between the river crossing and the train station.
