Transportation Issues in the News

Below are an assortment of recent news items related to or impacting local transportation issues. Most of these stories were authored outside the agency, and will take you to a new page on (or PDF document from) an external site.

Why alternative Interstate 5 Bridge replacement ideas won’t work- September 18, 2022

Nearly everyone agrees the Interstate 5 Bridge is not serving the region well. It would be catastrophically damaged in a big earthquake, it lacks breakdown and auxiliary lanes, it is not safe for pedestrians or cyclists and freeway congestion is terrible — heaven forbid you’re traveling north after 3 p.m. What people can’t agree on is what should replace it. In addition to the options being considered by the Interstate Bridge Replacement program, and the Columbia River Crossing program before it, there has been a steady drumbeat of alternative replacements for the I-5 Bridge other than the program’s preferred fixed-span bridge with 116 feet of river clearance. Should it be a tunnel? Should it have a moveable span? Why not a third bridge? Why does the current I-5 Bridge even need to be torn down?

Vancouver sees transit hub, commercial and mixed-use development for Evergreen, Grand corridor - February 15, 2022

A strategy to strengthen an aging commercial district in central Vancouver will move to a second hearing and public hearing, the Vancouver City Council decided Monday. Council members unanimously approved the first reading of the Evergreen and Grand Commercial Corridors Strategy. The 46-page document provides an outline for the future direction of properties along lower Evergreen and Grand boulevards. City staff say the area, which is lined with older commercial buildings and single-family homes, is an opportune location to promote businesses and make more accommodating for pedestrians. Specifically, the city is proposing a bus transit hub at the intersection of Grand and Mill Plain boulevards and commercial and mixed-use corridors and a residential mixed-use corridor in the area. Parking standards would be adjusted for the residential and commercial developments.