Columbia River road/LRT bridge gets key approval

Oregon’s Metro government on Thursday said it will approve construction of a new highway and rail bridge across the Columbia River, linking Oregon and Washington State. Metro is the last of the six local entities that must approve the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the bridge, which now must be approved by federal officials.

Officially titled the Columbia River Crossing (CRC), the bridge is expected to cost between $3.1 billion and $3.5 billion.

Said Metro President Tom Hughes, “I think that we’re ready to go … This project has to happen … our port and the port in Vancouver are in the process of being strangled by the congestion that takes place on I-5.” Metro is the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for metropolitan Portland, Ore., and most often reflects Portland’s strong commitment to light rail transit.

Some in Vancouver, Wash., still are resisting the inclusion of LRT in the bridge project, but Metro Councilor Barbara Roberts said that history will look favorably upon the extension of Portland’s Yellow Line LRT across the river and state border. “I’m going to see that light rail go over into Vancouver and Clark County,” she said. “This tri-county area—and Clark County—[is] a region. Even though the river separates us, it does not divide us.”

Added Hughes, “What the Vancouver folks have said to me clearly is, ‘No bridge, no light rail.’ “What we’ve said to them is, ‘No light rail, no bridge.’ So we have both. That’s the only way we can move forward on this.”

The FEIS will be accessible to the public beginning Sept. 23, and public comment will be accepted for 30 days.

Besides Metro, approval of the FEIS has been granted by Portland’s TriMet, the departments of transportation for both Oregon and Washington, Clark County, Wash.’s MPO, the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council, which includes Vancouver, Wash. , and Vancouver’s public transit agency, C-Tran.