The Camas City Council’s effort to torpedo a decade of work to replace the Interstate 5 Bridge is shortsighted and capricious.
The council is basing its decision on maintenance costs shared by Oregon and Washington to support the preferred light-rail option for mass transit on the bridge. It’s more than a little late in the game to raise these objections.
Officials from the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program, which is managing the process to fund and build the bridge, have produced ample evidence that light rail has the broad support of both Oregon and Clark County constituencies.
As the replacement program told the council, the decision will surely delay the construction of the bridge if not tank it altogether. Oregon’s $1 billion commitment to the project is a likely casualty if Clark County nixes light rail on the bridge. With that loss of funding and likely Oregon’s support, the I-5 Bridge will die another slow and unnecessary death.
