In the May 7 commentary, “On I-5 Bridge, Gov. Inslee misreads county’s pulse,” Greg Jayne reminds us that “In 2012, 57 percent of the (Clark County) electorate rejected a sales tax increase to help pay for light rail in the county,” and then builds an argument against even trying for a bridge solution that includes light rail, because ” … many people on this side of the river would rather gouge their eyes out than welcome Portland’s MAX system into the community.”
Really? At a minimum, there are a lot of unspoken and untested assumptions here. The problem is congestion due to unbridled growth of car traffic. What if that growth were bridled? For instance, “green” Portland could unilaterally decide to introduce congestion pricing (like the system now in force in London), and restrictions on downtown parking. If that happened, it would probably hit Vancouver commuters hardest (as Portlanders would probably demand mitigation for themselves to make this feasible).
I wager that the good people of Clark County under such a regime would be more amenable to accept public transport, even light rail, as the lesser evil. If so, the urgency of a new river crossing would be far from evident. Maybe people like Jayne suffer from “tunnel vision” when they concentrate on The Bridge.
