Opposition to mild rail on the deliberate Interstate 5 substitute bridge continues to develop in Clark County’s small cities.
Battle Floor Metropolis Council members voted 4-3 at their March 3 assembly to formally oppose the enlargement of TriMet’s mild rail from Portland throughout a brand new I-5 Bridge and into downtown Vancouver.
Battle Floor’s vote got here one month after Camas Metropolis Council members unanimously voted Feb. 3 to oppose mild rail on the deliberate substitute bridge.
La Middle metropolis officers have additionally challenged the necessity for mild rail. They opened a group ballot on the town’s web site to gauge public opinion on the bridge substitute plans.
The I-5 substitute bridge is predicted to value between $5 billion and $7.5 billion and is slated to incorporate mild rail, in addition to C-Tran bus service.
The plan agreed to by native stakeholders in 2022 features a 1.9-mile mild rail extension that can embody a brand new MAX mild rail station on Hayden Island and two new mild rail stations in downtown Vancouver, Frank Inexperienced, an assistant program administrator for the bridge venture, advised the La Middle Metropolis Council throughout a Feb. 26 presentation.
“I’m not here to sell you on light rail,” Inexperienced stated. “If the partners want to move away from light rail, it could jeopardize some of the funding.”
Inexperienced stated the I-5 Bridge, with its slim lanes, brief on- and offramps on both aspect of the bridge and lack of shoulders causes issues of safety and is the “primary bottleneck” for congestion on Interstate 5 in Portland and Vancouver throughout rush hours.
La Middle Councilor Myrna Leija stated residents need a new bridge however not mild rail, which is predicted to value about $2 billion to put in and as a lot as $21 million a yr to keep up the trains, bridge infrastructure and lightweight rail stations.
“For the past … 15 years, I haven’t talked to one single person who’s gung-ho for light rail,” Leija stated.
Battle Floor splits vote
In Battle Floor, the town council’s vote to oppose mild rail was cut up 4-3, with Mayor Troy McCoy, Deputy Mayor Shane Bowman and Councilor Cherish DesRochers dissenting, however not as a result of they like the thought of sunshine rail.
Each McCoy and Bowman fearful the vote in opposition to mild rail might jeopardize Battle Floor’s ongoing negotiations with the town of Vancouver for joint ambulance transport and emergency medical companies.
“I wish this resolution was four years ago,” McCoy stated throughout the metropolis council’s March 3 assembly. “All seven of us don’t want light rail, but this resolution doesn’t change that. So what we’re doing is putting our heels in the sand and what’s the point of that?”
He stated he worries opposing mild rail now might derail the brand new bridge. He cited bridge substitute leaders’ warning that altering course now might set the venture again as a lot as two years at a value of roughly $1 million a day.
“We need that bridge for economic viability,” McCoy stated.
C-Tran board reconsiders
The C-Tran board of administrators, which is made up of leaders from Clark County and its cities, plans to satisfy Tuesday to rethink a language change that opened up the opportunity of C-Tran paying for mild rail operations and upkeep prices projected to be $20.2 million a yr.
In January, Clark County Councilor and C-Tran board member Michelle Belkot stated she wished the C-Tran board to rethink a November decision that switched C-Tran’s place on financing mild rail from a “shall not” fund to “may” fund.
Camas Metropolis Councilor Tim Hein, who represents the town of Camas’ pursuits on the C-Tran board, stated in January that he regretted voting for the language change.
Hein, who led the Camas opposition to mild rail, and different C-Tran board members, together with Washougal Metropolis Councilor and former Washougal Mayor Molly Coston, McCoy and La Middle Metropolis Councilor Sean Boyle, have stated they have been dismayed by the projected mild rail prices.
“I was shocked,” Coston stated earlier this yr. “The numbers listed were pretty astonishing, and I definitely have some strong concerns about that. It seemed like an unbelievably high number. And I have no idea how, on our side of the river, we could fund that.”
