Dead Again–This Time For Certain?

The Columbia River Crossing, which was dead, then was alive, now is once more dead. This $3 billion to $4 billion project was going to replace the Interstate 5 bridge across the Columbia between Oregon and Washington, extend light rail into Vancouver, Washington, and rebuild several of the freeway interchanges north and south of the river.

Bridge supporters said it would relieve congestion, but it wasn’t clear how replacing a six-lane bridge with a twelve-lane bridge would relieve congestion when there were only six lanes approaching the bridge from the north and south. Instead, the real goal was to create lots of contracts for bridge builders, rail builders, highway contractors, and various other engineering and construction firms.

Continue reading

Back from the Grave

Once declared dead, the $3 billion Columbia River Crossing may yet be built. Despite the Washington legislature’s decision not to fund its share of the boondoggle project, Oregon’s governor is twisting arms and holding a special session of the state legislature today to gain approval (and $450 million in state funds) for the bridge.

Some of the twisting appears to have been done in the Washington, DC office of the Coast Guard, which granted the bridge a permit despite the fact that it will interfere with navigation. The DC office apparently did an end run around the Coast Guard’s Seattle regional office, which had opposed the permit. Oregon has agreed to pay $90 million in compensation to three shipping companies whose operations will be affected by the bridge.

The Columbia River Crossing is a plan to build a new Interstate-5 bridge across the Columbia. The new bridge would have more and wider lanes than the existing one and would also have room for light rail. Some bridge opponents object to the added road capacity; others object to the light rail. All the opponents agree that a replacement bridge isn’t necessary as the existing bridge is in sound condition.

Continue reading

Governor’s “Advisor” Actually Paid Lobbiest

Before being shut down, the Columbia River Crossing–a consortium of eight government agencies–spent $170 million. The lion’s share of that went to one consulting firm, David Evans and Associates, which was supposed to write the draft and final environmental impact statements for the bridge.

In fact, it turns out that Evans hired a lobbyist to convince the Oregon state legislature to appropriate well over $400 million to built the bridge. But the lobbyist, Patricia McCaig, never registered as a lobbyist or revealed her source of income. Instead, she claimed to be a “special advisor” to the governor.

Tobacco browse that levitra 20 mg smoke contains hundreds of deadly chemicals and most of them can cause cancer. It has given a new dimension to our perception about sex & sexuality This product has created a new awareness about male sexual health This product benefits men with heart diseases are advised to be careful while choosing any of the erectile dysfunction remedies as some may impose a serious threat to life. click for info order 50mg viagra The stamina and vigor of copulation will be unmatched and unleashed. http://pdxcommercial.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/B39-New-Brochure.pdf cialis without prescription cheapest cialis This medicinal drug leads for the vanishing of the erectile issues that are tackled by men during erectile dysfunction. Although McCaig’s true job was made public by Willamette Week last February, no one in the state government did anything about this likely violation of Oregon’s lobbying law until after the legislature adjourned. Now, the Oregon State Ethics Commission says it is investigating McCaig for possibly violation of eight different laws. It seems likely that Evans also hired someone to lobby the Washington state legislature, which narrowly defeated a bill providing funds to the project.

The dark nature of the consulting world–where government agencies overpay consultants to do various analyses and then the consultants promote the projects–always seemed apparent. But this is the first case in the Northwest at least where a consultant was caught redhanded covertly spending money lobbying for an expensive project. This is just one more reason why government should avoid doing megaprojects like the Columbia River Crossing, which involved a bridge, a light-rail line, reconstruction of numerous highway intersections, and other work.