Task force favors I-5
Bridge replacement
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
VANCOUVER — Replacing the I-5
Interstate Bridge — and extending the
TriMet light rail line to Vancouver —
are now the clear choice of a 39-mem-
ber task force that has been studying
how to relieve the Interstate Bridge traf-
fic bottleneck.
Columbia River Crossing, as the
task force is known, was formed to
make a recommendation to the Wash-
ington and Oregon transportation de-
partments. The Columbia-Pacific
Building and Construction Trades
Council has a voice on the task force in
the person of Laborers Local 320 Busi-
ness Manager Dave Tischer.
At its Jan. 22 meeting, Columbia
River Crossing took a kind of straw
poll.
“I think it’s high time we move for-
ward with this,” Tischer told fellow task
force members, declaring the building
trades’preference for light rail and a re-
placement bridge.
Not one task force member spoke in
favor of other options that were being
considered. Those options included: do-
ing nothing at all; keeping the existing
pair of bridges for northbound traffic
and adding a supplemental bridge to
carry southbound traffic; and adding
bus-only lanes instead of light rail.
Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski and
Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire
had announced their preference for the
replacement bridge option in a press
statement the week before.
At the Jan. 22 meeting, task force
members heard reports from Columbia
River Crossing staff about the project’s
environmental impacts, and about a
proposal for tolling to help pay for the
project, which also includes work on six
nearby highway interchanges.
As laid out by staff, the toll would be
collected electronically. Bridge users
would get a transponder to place on
their windshield, which would be read
by roadside radio equipment; the toll
would then be debited from the user’s
account. Vehicles without a transponder
would have their license plates pho-
tographed and would be charged a sur-
charge, getting a bill in the mail.
The toll would vary by time of day:
For passenger cars, it would start at
$2.56 each way during morning and
evening peak travel times (6 to 10 a.m.
and 3 to 7 p.m.); $1.92 between peaks
and an hour before and after; and $1.28
from 8 p.m. to 5 am. Those figures are
in 2017 dollars and are a very rough es-
timate based on estimated construction
costs and the assumption that tolling
would pay about one-third of the cost
of the overall project, including the
work on the interchanges. The bridge
itself accounts for about a third of the
estimated $3.1 to $4.2 billion cost of the
overall project.
For peak hour commuters crossing
five days a week, tolls would add up to
about $110 a month for starters. The toll
PAGE 12
would rise with inflation and could con-
tinue for 30 to 40 years.
The task force also heard about 45
minutes of public testimony. Several
union members were among those tes-
tifying, including former IBEW Local
48 business manager Ed Barnes, who
served on a precursor task force. Barnes
warned that if only the new I-5 bridge
charges a toll, traffic — and congestion
— will shift to the I-205 bridge. Barnes
proposed putting tolls on both spans to
head off that problem.
The next step in the process is the
late February release of a Draft Envi-
ronmental Impact Statement required
by federal law. The statement will be
about 3,000 pages long, and the public
will have 60 days to comment on it by
mail or email, or in person at hearings to
be scheduled in Portland and Vancou-
ver. Thus far, it looks like the project
would have no major negative environ-
mental impact, and may have a positive
impact in some ways, by reducing
emissions associated with the idling en-
gines of vehicles stuck in traffic.
But that hasn’t satisfied some envi-
ronmental activists and others, both on
and off the task force, who have ques-
tioned the wisdom and expense of
building a 12-lane bridge as the petro-
leum age enters its twilight.
“We should build it for the world we
think we’re going to be living in,” testi-
fied Joe Cortright, a former economist
for the State of Oregon.
“It sets a bad precedent that a project
of this size ignores climate change.”
said task force member Jill Fuglister,
who is co-director the Coalition for a
Livable Future.
Some argued that the additional
lanes will only encourage people to
drive, and thus will fill up after the
bridge is open. On the other hand, state
transportation planners point to the
bridge’s light rail component and the
likelihood of tolling as likely to reduce
congestion.
Also controversial among com-
menters was the question of where to
put the light rail tracks on the Vancou-
ver side. Some favor Main Street as the
location most likely to increase rider-
ship, and predict it will stimulate transit-
oriented development as it has in Port-
land. But some small business owners
voiced fears about the disruption, and
favor an alignment next to I-5.
About 120 people attended the Jan.
22 meeting; about half of those testify-
ing were critical, but most attendees
seemed to support the bridge.
No local elected leaders are standing
in the way of the bridge, but seeing
some citizen opposition, building trades
union leaders have been encouraging
members — particularly members who
use the I-5 Interstate Bridge — to come
to meetings and testify in favor of build-
ing a new one. A schedule of upcoming
community meetings is available at the
task force web site, www.columbia-
rivercrossing.org.
‘A Job Well Done’
VANCOUVER — Ed Barnes, a retired business man-
ager and 35-year member of Electrical Workers Local 48,
was honored at a reception Jan. 23 for his service on the
Washington State Transportation Commission.
More than 75 people attended, including Vancouver
Mayor Royce Pollard and various politicians and union of-
ficials. Several speakers praised Barnes as “a champion of
transportation in the state of Washington.” Letters of com-
mendation “for a job well done” were read from U.S. Sen-
ators Patti Murray and Marie Cantwell, U.S. Rep. Brian
Baird and Gov. Chris Gregoire.
Barnes served three terms (12 years is the limit) on the
commission under appointments from three governors. “I’m
proud to have served,” he said. “But I’ll tell you, it made me
most proud when I got a unanimous confirmation from the
Senate.”
Barnes has been a stalwart on transportation issues in
both Washington and Oregon — be it roads, bridges, freight
trains, ferry boats, buses, you name it.
“Ed Barnes has been a real important figure for trans-
portation in this state,” said Transportation Commission
Chair Christopher Ford, who later presented Barnes with a
wall clock and resolution of commendation.
Washington State Transportation Secretary Paula Ham-
mond said Barnes not only offered great leadership and ad-
vice to her; he was a cheerleader for DOT employees. “He
would always thank the workers and tell them what a great
job they were doing,” she said.
Port of Vancouver Commissioner Nancy Baker (photo
right) also presented Barnes with a framed resolution on be-
half of the Port for his work.
To cap off the evening, the Columbia River Sweet Ade-
lines Chorus (above) serenaded Barnes with a medley of
songs. Luanne Barnes, Ed’s wife, is a member of the chorus.
Term limits require Ed Barnes to
step down from Washington State
Transportation Commission
LERC 30th anniversary party March 7
The Labor Education and Re-
search Center of the University of
Oregon is planning a 30th anniver-
sary celebration Friday, March 7, at
the Oregon Convention Center in
Portland. (The NW Labor Press in-
correctly reported the date as March
30 in the Jan. 19 issue.).
Gov. Ted Kulongoski has been in-
vited to speak, along with UO Pres-
ident Dave Frohnmayer and Ruth
Milkman, director of the UCLA In-
stitute for Research on Labor and
Employment.
A reception and dinner are sched-
uled for 6 to 9 p.m. Preceding the
dinner from 2 to 5 p.m. will be a
symposium entitled, “Creating La-
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
bor-Community Alliances That
Work.”
The Oregon Legislature estab-
lished LERC in 1977 as a way to
provide education and research to
workers. At the UO campus in Eu-
gene and at the Portland Center
downtown, LERC offers classes and
conducts research in the fields of oc-
cupational safety and health, techno-
logical changes, special concerns for
women and minority workers, and a
range of issues linked to collective
bargaining and labor-management
relations.
At the March 7 anniversary,
LERC will launch its new Strategic
Training and Action Research
(STAR) Fund. Net proceeds from
the event will benefit the fund, which
will be used in part to provide more
training programs and to bring visit-
ing union leaders to Oregon.
Donations to the STAR Fund are
tax deductible and range from $100
to $5,000. A $5,000 “Visionary”
contribution includes 16 anniversary
dinner tickets and recognition in the
dinner program. A $100 “Activist”
contribution includes a dinner ticket
and recognition in the dinner pro-
gram. Individual dinner tickets are
$60 each.
For more information about the
anniversary dinner and/or the STAR
Fund, call LERC at 541-346-5054.
FEBRUARY 1, 2008