MegaBridge, pollution reduction goals slam against each other

The multibillion dollar boondoggle, aka the MegaBridge, aka the Columbia River Crossing (CRC), continues to run up against two inescapable facts: it's too expensive, and it will increase global warming pollution at a time where we need to be dramatically reducing it.

While CRC project staff have tried to massage the cost numbers (from $4,200 million to a mere $3,500 million) by delaying parts of the project until later ("look, we can afford the Ferrari because we won't pay some of the car loan until later"), the pollution numbers can't be ignored.

From The Portland Tribune article:

A new Metro study shows that population growth coupled with a soon-to-be-approved Regional Transportation Plan [of which the MegaBridge is a major part] will result in so much metro-area traffic that greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles will jump 49 percent.

Of course, the region is working to cut global warming pollution by 80% by 2050, something that won't be possible if driving and transportation pollution - 38% of total emissions - dramatically increases.

At the center of the contradiction: the region's plan to spend billions of dollars to build a new megabridge. Due to its plans flying in the face of its rhetoric, Metro was named the Willamette Week's Rogue of the Week two weeks ago.

Conservation groups are calling for a rethinking of the MegaBridge project - which would increase global warming pollution by 32% itself.