Building trades unions say enough talk, build bridge now
Building trades union officials are
scratching their heads over a resolu-
tion introduced May 27 at the regional
Metro Council that, if passed, could
scuttle a proposed $4.2 billion Inter-
state 5 bridge project spanning the
Columbia River.
Councilors Carlotta Collette,
Robert Liberty and Carl Hosticka co-
signed a resolution that calls for
charging tolls on the current bridge
between Portland and Vancouver, us-
ing the money to earthquake-proof the
structure and to shore up on-ramps,
and put off any decision on what to do
with the bridge.
Liberty and Collette were re-
elected by wide margins in the May
primary. Hosticka ran unopposed.
The Columbia Pacific Building
Trades Council and the Pacific NW
Regional Council of Carpenters sup-
port a proposal that includes replacing
the 91-year-old bridge with a new
one, and overhauling a five-mile
stretch of I-5 from North Columbia
Boulevard in Portland to State Route
500 in Vancouver. The new bridge
would include a 12-lane highway,
light rail, and lanes for bikes and
pedestrians.
That option is the unofficial choice
of a 39-member task force that has
been studying how to relieve the Inter-
state Bridge traffic bottleneck. The
task force — Columbia River Cross-
ing (CRC) — was formed to make a
recommendation to the Washington
and Oregon transportation depart-
ments. It is composed of leaders from
public agencies, businesses, labor,
civic organizations, neighborhoods
and freight, commuter and environ-
mental groups from Oregon and
Southwest Washington.
The task force has been meeting
and holding public hearings regularly
since early 2005. Over that time, it has
The Interstate 5 Bridge between Portland and Vancouver is actually two
bridges right next to each other. One carries northbound traffic and the other
carries southbound, with three lanes in each direction. There is a vertical lift
in the bridge to allow boat traffic to pass.
boiled proposals down to five alterna-
tives, including keeping the existing
bridge (which is actually two bridges
right next to each other) for north-
bound traffic and adding a supplemen-
tal bridge to carry southbound traffic;
adding bus-only lanes instead of light
rail, replacing the bridge, and doing
nothing at all.
In January, an informal straw poll
indicated a majority of the task force
favored a replacement bridge. So do
Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski and
Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire.
Support is critical because before
any option can move forward it must
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portation Council, TriMet, C-Tran,
City of Portland, City of Vancouver,
and Metro.
That’s why the action of the three
Metro councilors has upset union offi-
cials and others who have worked so
hard to get to this stage.
“There’s no reason Metro should
be opposing this new bridge. It makes
no sense,” said Lynn Lehrbach, politi-
cal director of Teamsters Joint Coun-
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cil No. 37. Lehrbach also sits on the
TriMet board of directors.
The Metro Council is a 7-member
body, so the three councilors need one
more vote to pass their resolution.
Union officials and members are lob-
bying Metro to replace the bridge.
Meanwhile, on May 2, a 5,000-
page federal Draft Environmental Im-
pact Statement outlining the five CRC
alternatives was released. The public
has 60 days —until July 1 — to com-
ment. A coalition of 13 organizations
that oppose a replacement bridge tried
to get the public comment period ex-
tended an additional 60 days, but the
Federal Highway Administration and
the Federal Transit Administration de-
nied the request.
At a public hearing May 29 in Van-
couver, John Mohlis, executive secre-
tary-treasurer of the CPBCTC, reiter-
ated the trades’ support of a
replacement bridge. He also objected
to earlier testimony suggesting that
seismic upgrades to the current
bridges were all that was needed. “I
don’t care how much lipstick you put
on those bridges, they are still draw-
bridges on a major interstate highway.
That’s ludicrous in this day and age,”
he said.
At a hearing May 30 in Portland,
Carpenters Union official Joe Baron
said further delays will only make the
project more expensive. “Build it big,
and build it now,” he said.
The eight public agencies will vote
sometime this summer on which alter-
native they support. The CRC task
force meets again on June 24.
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