This Week in the Mercury
Monday, May 18, 2009
News / Politics Washington Official Questions $4bn CRC
Posted by Matt Davis on Mon, May 18, 2009 at 2:00 PM
The top Southwest Washington transportation official has told the Columbian newspaper $4 billion is too much for the Columbia River Crossing:
"Just like most of us in the real world, we dream about the car we want," Wagner said in a wide-ranging interview last week. "And at some point, stark reality says, 'Huh. I dream about it, but I don't have quite enough money to get it all today. Maybe I need to take off a few of the options off of this car.' And we are starting those conversations right now."
Maybe if we scratch the light rail and the bike lanes, we could save a few hundred million?
1
"Maybe if we scratch the light rail and the bike lanes, we could save a few hundred million?"
Way to bait a blog war, Matt. :-)
Way to bait a blog war, Matt. :-)
2
Surprising that you haven't yet reported what every other media outlet in town is reporting - that the most likely possibilities on the table to reduce costs are delaying redesigning a couple of the interchanges, and having one fewer lane in each direction... Exactly what you've been editorializing in favor of for months...
I guess being against something (see: stadiums) is more fun than being for something and taking responsibility if it doesn't work out?
I guess being against something (see: stadiums) is more fun than being for something and taking responsibility if it doesn't work out?
3
Keep Vancouver normal. Stop the crime train and the fag path!
Was that what you were hoping for, Matt? I've got more where that came from...
Was that what you were hoping for, Matt? I've got more where that came from...
5
Matt, Mr investigative reporter, what would it cost to:
Seismically retrofit the existing I5 bridge and expand it on either side to add one extra lane per direction
Devote one lane to trucks only
Make all drivers pay tolls except trucks, which have their own lanes.
Build an extra stand-alone rail and bike bridge
And while your at it, can you get the opinion of a traffic engineer?
Seismically retrofit the existing I5 bridge and expand it on either side to add one extra lane per direction
Devote one lane to trucks only
Make all drivers pay tolls except trucks, which have their own lanes.
Build an extra stand-alone rail and bike bridge
And while your at it, can you get the opinion of a traffic engineer?
6
"Make all drivers pay tolls except trucks, which have their own lanes.
Build an extra stand-alone rail and bike bridge "
That's called a subsidy for the truckers, which is an unfair market advantage consider railroads are privately financed and get no such advantages.
Build an extra stand-alone rail and bike bridge "
That's called a subsidy for the truckers, which is an unfair market advantage consider railroads are privately financed and get no such advantages.
7
"That's called a subsidy for the truckers, which is an unfair market advantage consider railroads are privately financed and get no such advantages."
And the entire CRC as it stands now isn't one in the first place?
And the entire CRC as it stands now isn't one in the first place?
8
For clarification, every semi-truck on the road pays $550 a year for the privilege of driving on federal highways. The feds, in turn, use this money to subsidize the railroads. That $550 is charged for the whole year, unless the truck is wrecked and sold for scrap. If I bought a truck (which I have done in the past) and use it for ,say, 5 months and then sell it, I'm still responsible for the whole $550, unless the new owner agrees to pay the rest of the year. By the way, you can pay the fee quarterly, which a lot of truckers do.
9
Matt are you lazy or dumb? Either your lazy and didn't even read the article you linked to or your really really dumb and bad at reading comprehension.
What part of the following quotes from Wagner didn't you understand:
"Possible cuts include delaying one or more of the interchange projects and slicing off a bridge lane in each direction, he said."
AND
"Wagner said he doesn't believe it's politically possible to replace the Interstate 5 Bridge without extending light rail into Vancouver and predicted the crossing project would be on "life support" if voters shoot down a light-rail measure."
AND
Saving another $750 million by killing light rail isn't going to happen, Wagner said.
"The two sides of the river have to come together on what's going to happen," he said. "And on the Clark County side, while there is growing support for light rail, I am going to stop way short of saying that everybody likes light rail because I've certainly had enough people tell me that they don't like light rail."
Seriously dude, even by your standards this is pathetic.
What part of the following quotes from Wagner didn't you understand:
"Possible cuts include delaying one or more of the interchange projects and slicing off a bridge lane in each direction, he said."
AND
"Wagner said he doesn't believe it's politically possible to replace the Interstate 5 Bridge without extending light rail into Vancouver and predicted the crossing project would be on "life support" if voters shoot down a light-rail measure."
AND
Saving another $750 million by killing light rail isn't going to happen, Wagner said.
"The two sides of the river have to come together on what's going to happen," he said. "And on the Clark County side, while there is growing support for light rail, I am going to stop way short of saying that everybody likes light rail because I've certainly had enough people tell me that they don't like light rail."
Seriously dude, even by your standards this is pathetic.
10
"For clarification, every semi-truck on the road pays $550 a year for the privilege of driving on federal highways. The feds, in turn, use this money to subsidize the railroads."
Freight rail is a private industry. Their rail lines were built by the industry, not by the government.
There may be a few lines that are not doing well, but you need some evidence before you put these false accusations out.
Trucks, bar none, do the most damage to roads but pay the least in proportion to the damage they cause.. They also go slower than cars, take up more space, and create congestion. We need trucks, but our roads are saturated.
Freight rail is a private industry. Their rail lines were built by the industry, not by the government.
There may be a few lines that are not doing well, but you need some evidence before you put these false accusations out.
Trucks, bar none, do the most damage to roads but pay the least in proportion to the damage they cause.. They also go slower than cars, take up more space, and create congestion. We need trucks, but our roads are saturated.
11
Yes, they pay $550/year, but put that number in context. Considering that a good trucker does about 100,000 miles/year, that works out to less than a penny a mile. A lot of people pay more in registration fees for their cars. And asphalt damage is proportional to weight to the 4th power, so a truck does much more damage than a car in the first place.
12
@Matthew D: If you can find the information, you will, I think, be highly surprised how much money the State of Oregon makes every year on road taaxes on trucks and diesel fuel. Look it up. I don't know where to look cause I'm not a computer whiz. I know that I bought my last truck (licensed in Washington) for $18,000, drove it for three years and was still paying excise tax on $18,000, even though the value had gone down. If you really look into what the trucking industry pays every year to the various entities, you will be quite surprised. IMHO
Most Commented on Blogtown, PDX
-
Black Bloc Trashes Belmont; Cops Make Arrests by Nathan Gilles
-
Woman Arrested in Last Night's Police Brutality March: "I Was Outside My House" by Denis C. Theriault
-
The Simmering Battle Between Occupy and the Black Bloc by Denis C. Theriault
-
Proactive Cops Worry About "Tone" of Anti-Police-Brutality March by Denis C. Theriault
-
Blazers vs. Thunder - Hot Live Blog Action by Ezra Ace Caraeff
-
Oregon Republican Wants to Outlaw Online Organizing by Goldy
-
SPOILER: Hulk Still Likes Smashing Shit by Erik Henriksen
-
Okay, No More Ignoring the Elephant in the Room... WHO WATCHED SMASH LAST NIGHT?? by Wm.™ Steven Humphrey
-
Good Morning, News! by Nathan Gilles
-
Factcheck: Is Oregon's Gas Tax Revenue Decreasing? by Sarah Mirk
Our Friends
- UrbanHonking
- Culture Shock
- Portland Roundball Society
- Steph Cassano
- Cort and Fatboy
- Street Roots
- Powell's Books Blog
- Portland Transport
- Portland Afoot
- Bike Portland
- Eater: PDX
- Portland Food and Drink
- Mr. Movie
- Sunday Softball
- BlueOregon
- Sightline Institute
- Ultra: Arts Portland
- Bitch Magazine
- Blazer's Edge
- Reading Local: Portland
- Portland Food Carts
- Stumptown Vegans
Our Enemies
The Handyman Pro - Your Honey-Do Specialist
Don’t let our name fool you. The Handyman Pro, LLC is a repair and remodel service provider with over 25-years experience. We cover all aspects of construction and repairs for residential and commercial clients.
Bands Page
Housing
Jobs
Musicians
For Sale
Wheels
Services
Health
The Arts
Friends 'N' Neighbors
Bulletin Board
Personals
Adult
About Portland Mercury
RSSGoing to Seattle?
Comments (13) RSS