CRC: Will a summer of non-stop gridlock give controversial project a push?
By Joseph Rose, The Oregonian
May 10, 2010, 8:43AM
Once again, nearly nonstop gridlock plagued northbound Interstate 5 approaching the Columbia River on Saturday and Sunday.
As we reported last week, heavy weekend traffic over the Oregon-Washington border is going to be the norm into the fall, thanks to a joint replacement project forcing lane closures on the I-205 Glenn Jackson Bridge and forcing more vehicles to spill onto I-5.
At least one reader thinks weekend traffic jams just might result in a big boost in support for the controversial Columbia River Crossing.
Robert Sims, who lives in Vancouver but works in downtown Portland, writes:
I was stuck in the I-205 gridlock last Saturday and attempted to end-run the problem by driving down to the I-5 bridge on Columbia. Guess what, the I-5 bridge was also in gridlock as were adjacent arterials. It took me 1 hour and 20 minutes to get over the I-5 bridge. The importance of two fully functional bridges over the Columbia River in the metro region will be painfully obvious to all by the end of the summer.
Hmm. A summer of gridlock is a summer of good PR for the CRC folks. Oddly, we can see some logic to that theory. What do you think?
-- Joseph Rose, Twitter: pdxcommute
http://blog.oregonlive.com/commuting/2010/05/crc_will_a_summer_of_non-stop.html
It seems the experts have forgotten the data that has already been collected. The CRC will undoubtedly cause MORE traffic. Already many people avoid going across this bridge due to high congestion. Which the introduction of more lanes all we will see is more cars, and more sprawl due to the supposed "faster commute". Thanks for reading,
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