Digging into the Light Rail Project in Search of a Bridge
Glen Morgan interviews WA State Rep John Ley (18th LD). This was the second video we filmed and this was a general overview of the current challenges of Portland’s Light Rail Tri-Met mess looking for a bridge to get into Washington State’s budget and taxpayer pocketbooks. We also dig into various details regarding Portland’s mass transit system (TriMet) and Clark County’s transit system (C-TRAN).
The failed Columbia River Crossing (CRC) was deemed “a light rail project in search of a bridge” by an Oregon Supreme Court Justice. The Federal Highway Administrator for Oregon deemed the CRC nothing more than “a platform for light rail”.
Last year, TriMet had an operating loss of $850 million. Over the past decade, their operating losses have burned through over $6 billion of taxpayers money. The Interstate Bridge Replacement (IBR) Program is mainly a bailout of Portland’s TriMet transit system. Washington taxpayers should NOT be on the hook for problems in Oregon’s mass transit systems.
Clark County’s C-TRAN has provided bus service over the Columbia River for close to 4 decades. Portland has NEVER contributed a penny towards the bus transit service C-TRAN provides.
The IBR proposal allocates 54 percent of the bridge surface is allocated to transit, bikes and pedestrians. Only 46 percent is allocated to cars and freight haulers. Yet the people’s TOP priority is reducing traffic congestion and saving people time. The IBR proposal does neither.
Portland has a dozen bridges over the Willamette River. We need more than two bridges over the Columbia River!
Remember, government hates it when you start looking at how they operate, and they really don’t want you to know how they squander your tax dollars. Government will never reform itself.
This is Part 2 in a 5-part video series at We the Governed!
