The reality is clear: the entire point of this “new bridge” was to scam Vancouver/Clark County into accepting the fungus of light rail, which we do not want, do not need and cannot afford.

See: https://www.wweek.com/portland/article-18881-the-2-5-billion-bribe.html

Light rail can’t do anything buses can’t do, for a massively more expensive amount of money, and life-long, ever-increasing tolls to go with it.

We need ADDITIONAL BRIDGES, NOT replacing a bridge with the same capacity we have now.

There is zero need to replace what we’ve got.

Back when Ann Rivers actually was a Republican as opposed to a sell out, she had this to say about the CRC scam, the same problems then remaining in place now:

“I will not be intimidated.” (Until, quite apparently, she WAS “intimidated.” Or something.

“It’s almost been like a timeshare sales pitch: ‘If you don’t buy now, by God, you’ll never be able to get it at this price!'” Rivers says. “We need some sanity on this.”
….
Now Senate majority whip, Rivers says the project’s costs aren’t worth shaving only a minute off the rush-hour commute from Portland to Vancouver.
….
“This is not a project about congestion relief, not a project about freight mobility,” Rivers says. “All those things were shells. It’s about light rail.”
….
King and Rivers served on an oversight committee on the project. “The deeper we looked, the more questions we had,” Rivers says. “We would wait and wait and wait, and never get the information we wanted.”
….
But Rivers says she won’t let the opportunity to kill the CRC slip away. She’s taken no chances, working her Senate colleagues on the issue and trying to keep her fellow Republicans together.

“My shoulders have gotten very broad and strong from being the only one saying, ‘No, no, no,'” Rivers says. “And now others are beginning to join me.”

See “Bridge End
Oregon backers of the CRC think they’ve won the day. They haven’t met Ann Rivers.”

https://www.wweek.com/portland/article-20340-bridge-end.html

Light rail is only part of Portland’s master plan for Clark County. See “The Nature of 2040: the Region’s 50-Year Plan for Managing Growth Metro (Or.)”
http://www.no-tolls.com/The%20Nature%20of%202040_%20the%20Regions%2050-Year%20Plan%20for%20Managing%20Growth.pdf
And Metro’s map including Clark County:
http://no-tolls.com/documents/Smallcon%2Bcallout%2Bsidebar.jpg
Higher resolution:
http://www.no-tolls.com/wpimages/wp3e1753ce_05_06.jpg
and: http://www.no-tolls.com/portland_plan.html:

Inflated forecasts of future ridership are not realistic, cannot be relied upon.

See Extremely low bus ridership does not justify expensive TriMet light rail