Breaking: CRC is Now Just a One-Lane MegaBridge

Of all the disingenuous actions by supporters of the largest public project in the region's history - the Columbia River Crossing MegaBridge - few are as cynical as calling the new design a ten-lane bridge.

Realizing support was falling for a $4,200 million, 12-lane bridge that would induce sprawling development throughout Clark County and beyond, backers decided to announce they would stripe only 10 lanes on (an admittedly narrower) bridge - but that it could be restriped to 12 lanes in the future. From The Oregonian (Nov 12):

Actually, the idea is to reduce the overall width of the bridge's two spans, but the new design still would one day allow expansion to 12 lanes, with narrower shoulders. The new bridge would replace the old green six-lane Interstate Bridge.

That, of course, is like calling the MegaBridge a one-lane bridge - before any paint goes down. Outrageously The Oregonian and other outlets are using the spin, for example reporting on today's meeting:

The Crossing design calls for a 10-lane bridge along with capacity for light rail, pedestrians and bicycles.

Wrong, wrong, and wrong. The simple fact is the new bridge design allows for 12 lanes of car traffic - a doubling of current lanes. If we're serious about addressing the climate crisis, we simply can't continue to spend thousands of millions of dollars subsidizing costly, wasteful, polluting sprawl.