Gold Medal Improvements Planned For I-5
By: Corwin Haeck
KOMO-AM 1000
September 19, 2007
Web-linked MP3 file of original radio news story
TRANSCRIPT
ANNOUNCER: From B.C. to the Baja Peninsula, I-5 will take you the entire way, but in a new age of environmental awareness, what's the future of this massive concrete corridor?
BRUCE AGNEW, DIRECTOR, CASCADIA CENTER: It's a great master corridor connecting Canada to Mexico.
CORWIN HAECK, KOMO-AM REPORTER: Big-time thinkers like transportation consultant Bruce Agnew envision an I-5 that is more traveller-friendly and environmentally sound. Take, for example, the lowly rest area.
BA: The rest areas don't have to be a sterile environment.
CH: Imagine a place where you could plug in your alternative fuel car.
BA: (Picture) retrofitting rest areas and truck stops to allow them to plug in their cab overnight, or regenerate their electric car.
CH: Agnew says I-5 will become the most important freeway on earth when the Olympics come to British Columbia in 2010, and a whole lot hinges on improvements to our main north-south transportation corridor.
BA: (We need) not only better signage along I-5, but it's also major construction going on to widen the truck lanes on I-5 into Canada.
CH: Agnew says train service across the border could be as often as every hour to serve the Olympics.
BA: There's a great opportunity to promote our region as the Two Nation Vacation.
CH: Corwin Haeck, KOMO 1000 News.
