By: Editorial Board
The Oregonian
July 8, 2008
Link to original editorial
We interrupt you with this bulletin from a greener future: By the year 2030, more people will be walking, biking, hopping a bus or train and, also, telecommuting. (Warning: Some Silicon Valley bosses now call it "telefaking.")
But most of these same walkers, bikers, transit users and telecommuters will still be, at regular intervals, scouring under couch pillows for their keys. Yes, shock of shocks, they'll still be driving.
What they'll be driving will probably be smaller, smarter and more fuel-efficient, including plug-in hybrids. More people will be car-sharing. More will be dependent on company-provided "para-transit" services, circulators or jitneys. But all of these vehicles still run on roads, and more to the point, cross bridges.
Plus, there will be more people period, at least a million more in our region. Put all of that together and it's not too surprising to learn that a new Interstate 5 bridge between Portland and Vancouver will not actually be able to perform miracles. No, it will not be able to eliminate congestion. What it will do is reduce it to roughly the same level that drivers experience today. And that alone will feel miraculous to freight haulers.
Without the bridge, planners project that congestion will stretch to 15 hours a day by 2030, with catastrophic consequences for our freight-dependent economy. Without the bridge, too, bus ridership during peak traffic hours will hover around 7 percent. With the bridge and a new light-rail line across it, transit ridership during peak hours will rise to 17 percent.
Sure, the economic benefits of the bridge are well known. But what seem to be getting lost in the increasingly anxious discussions about the I-5 bridge are its huge environmental benefits.
Replacing the bridge is the region's best chance not just to unclog transportation, but to transform it. New technologies for reducing emissions from trucks beckon, including electrification, and the I-5 bridge can help spur that change. Ditto for sparking a new acceptance of tolling and congestion pricing.
But the question is whether the Portland City Council, and others scheduled to vote on the project soon, will lose their nerve and capitulate to the project's many knee-jerk critics. Most say they don't want to kill the project, just to right-size it.
Still, it's worth noting that the reason our region has been so successful in attracting federal transportation dollars is that we've learned how to work together. Make it unanimous, and you make it harder to reject a project. Even though killing the project might not be anyone's stated goal, making impossible demands for the project could amount to the same thing.
The bridge will be, in effect, a huge demonstration project for Tomorrowland in all its manifestations. Ask questions and get answers, but don't stop progress on what could and should be the greenest bridge ever built.
