One thing that makes the Columbia River Crossing (CRC) project such a headache for policy makers, and for anyone trying to make sense of the debate, is that it involves two places with very different ideas about planning for transportation and population growth.
Those places are Clark County, Washington and the Portland metro area.
Check out the graphic below. It shows the the population density outside the urban growth areas of Vancouver and Portland…
On one side of the river, you have political leadership that is pushing for density and land-use policies that make the use of light-rail and bicycles possible. And on the other side, you’ve got a situation where it’s difficult (and not surprisingly unpopular) to use anything but a single-occupancy motor vehicle.
[UPDATE 3/24, 10:29pm; The Oregonian just published a story about the CRC and sprawl, A new I-5 Columbia River bridge raises sprawl questions.]
For more on this, and all the other fascinating topics surrounding the CRC, don’t miss tomorrow’s debate/forum hosted by the Bus Project and the Portland Mercury.
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March Debate Club – Columbia River Crossing
3/25, 7-9pm
The Edge of Belmont (SE 34th between Belmont and Morrison)
Event website