DOTs that they aren’t the only ones
with ideas on how to fix the
I-5 bridge over the Columbia.
(Photo © J. Maus)
Metro Councilor Robert Liberty has just taken his opposition to the Columbia River Crossing project up a notch.
In a statement released today, Liberty urges people to send in their bridge design proposals. He writes that it’s “Time to leave the monster project behind and find some smarter, cheaper, greener solutions.” Liberty calls a recent project review panel appointed by DOTs from Washington and Oregon as nothing more than an “embarrassing… exercise in rubber-stamping” and a “waste of public funds on opinion management.”
Liberty says he wants to collect design proposals for the bridge that haven’t been given a fair look by the state DOTs:
“Many such proposals have been offered by thoughtful citizens in Oregon and Washington, including interesting mixes of upgrades or repurposing the existing bridges, supplemental lanes for local or freeway traffic, pricing to pre-pay for improvements and reduce congestion immediately, improvements to the downstream rail bridge to enhance barge movement and perhaps allow for commuter rail connections, and many, many others.”
As for what Liberty intends to do with the proposals he receives, “We need to show you don’t need $90 million, a huge staff and hundreds of pages of paper to come up with solutions that are smarter, cheaper and greener.”
View the full statement here.