My 3-minute testimony to the C-Tran Board who would later vote on adding costs and asking the Interstate Bridge Replacement (IBR) Program to extend MAX light rail in phase one, to the Evergreen Library Square.
https://player.invintus.com?clientID=2917038973&eventID=2026051009&startStreamAt=613&stopStreamAt=803
My remarks, as planned.
Tonight you have a vote regarding Vancouver’s request to extend light rail in phase one, to the Evergreen Library Square. Just say no.
First and foremost, the IBR team does NOT have the money necessary to even complete the current version of phase one. That cost estimate, if you can trust it, is $7.6 billion.
Next, the transit component of the IBR proposal jumped from $2 billion to $3.5 billion. Adding expensive light rail components is the last thing you should do. Clark County voters have rejected light rail 3 times at the polls.
But there are other details you may not know about the IBR proposal that should cause you to walk away from any support of it.
Buried in the details are 5 possible park n ride facilities. One at the Vancouver waterfront, originally for $30-$45 million, includes 500 vehicle parking stalls & 15,000 SF of retail space. In the Jan 2026 Joe Cortright public records revelation, that cost TRIPLED to $104 million.
The Evergreen Park n Ride is $90 – $140 million for a multi-level, partially below grade parking structure.
The Ruby Junction TriMet Facility in Gresham was originally projected to cost $45 – $65 million. The Cortright-revealed estimate jumped SIX-fold to $320 million. This originally was to accommodate 19 new LRVs. The project is now down to demanding 3 new vehicles.
Yet compare $320 million with the 2002 creation of the Yellow Line, where TriMet allegedly spent just $9 million to handle 17 new vehicles. In 2012 they bought 20 new vehicles for the Orange Line, spending $8 million on the Gresham facility.
A light rail overnight facility at the Expo Center was $9 – $14 million; it’s now $66 million.
What you see is huge shifting of money, hiding costs and increasing the overall price of the project. Again, the transit component exploded 75 percent. That’s in spite of IBR MAX light rail being slashed from 9 departures an hour to just four. The number of required light rail vehicles being slashed from 19 new vehicles to just three.
And yet the project says they need to spend $320 million expanding their Gresham maintenance facility? That’s an unneeded rip off of taxpayers. Especially when TriMet is slashing service on both light rail routes and bus service.
TriMet is slashing service and cutting costs, yet they need a new $66 million overnight facility at EXPO?
Don’t give in to the IBR and TriMet ripoff of taxpayers. Just say “No!” to the Vancouver proposal to extend light rail. We can’t afford it!
