$7.5 billion to give the lions share of space to transit, bikers & pedestrians
The Interstate Bridge Replacement Program began as a resurrection of the $3.5 billion failed Columbia River Crossing from over a decade ago. When Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Oregon’s Kate Brown revived the project in late 2019, citizens were promised things would be different.
A year later program Administrator Greg Johnson and his team said the project could be built for between $3.2 billion and $4.8 billion. Both prices included MAX light rail for the transit component. Two year later the cost estimated jumped to $5 billion to $7.5 billion. In December 2023, Johnson told legislators the cost would be going up; we just don’t know by how much.
But in June 2024, Johnson and his team revealed that over HALF the new bridge structure will be dedicated to mass transit, bikers, and pedestrians. They had revealed earlier that travel times would DOUBLE for the morning, southbound commute from Salmon Creek to the Fremont Bridge. Furthermore, HALF of rush hour traffic would be going ZERO to 20 miles per hour.
Will drivers be paying tolls to fund the bikers, pedestrians, and transit riders portion of the bridge? Take a listen as Lars Larson and John discuss various details. To read the full Clark County Today article related to this discussion, click here.
