I think all stakeholders, especially taxpayers, need to take the long view when planning and building a new Columbia River crossing for I-5. Many have reasons, in 2021, why they “know” that including rail transit is a bad idea. However a major bridge is a 60- to 100-year investment of our tax dollars, and nobody knows the future that far ahead.
My suggestion is to be sure that the adopted plan can accommodate rapid transit when our community decides it is needed. What form it takes and where the terminals are can be left to other times to decide. But please, don’t require building a wholly new bridge for rapid transit in the future.
I am in my 70s and can envision a future when I will no longer be able to drive; increased transit seems like a really good investment to me even though I rarely use it now. I have used it regularly in past decades with different work/home combinations. I am a retired civil engineer and I have built bridges.
