Letter: Dig deep to fix transportation woes

Thanks to The Columbian for its recent articles and letters regarding the I-5 Bridge replacement. However, all the writers except Ronald Brown (Our Readers’ Views, Dec. 28) have overlooked a major fact: the current bridges can be kept and used for local traffic (to/from downtown Vancouver, Port of Vancouver, Fort Vancouver, Highway 14, and Hayden Island), plus light rail and bus rapid transit across the Columbia. Tunnels under the Columbia do not seem to have been fully evaluated during earlier project planning, but they could handle long-distance travelers.

The main thing we, Southwest Washington and metropolitan Portland, are missing is a long-term (20- to 50-year) transportation plan that includes automobiles, trucks, rail, maritime and air traffic.

Further observations:

• The railroad bridge across the Columbia is even older than the I-5 bridges.

• I-5 is already at its maximum practical width between downtown Vancouver and Fort Vancouver.

• Vancouver-Portland auto and truck traffic needs more river crossings.

• Although much maritime traffic, including grain, is shifting to containers (loaded at U.S. farms and unloaded in Asia), the Columbia River Navigation Channel will be with us for many more years.

• “Narrow sections” of I-5, in Portland, must also be addressed in any comprehensive plan.