Opinion: ‘The I-5 Bridge is a dead train rolling’

Lars Larson argues that the proposed I-5 Bridge light rail project is financially unviable, highlighting major budget shortfalls and opposition. Photo by Andi Schwartz

Lars Larson shares his opinion of the latest developments in the proposed Interstate 5 Bridge replacement project

Lars Larson
The Northwest Nonsense

Trimet and ODOT need to accept that their two billion dollar boondoggle light rail on the I-5 bridge is a dead train rolling.

Consider that the city of Camas, a member of C-TRAN, just voted unanimously to oppose any light rail on the bridge as too expensive and not worth the cash.

TriMet is broke and rapidly burning down its billion dollar cash reserves.

ODOT faces a one-third of a billion dollar shortfall just this year.

And Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek just made all transportation projects 10 to 20 percent more expensive, by her own estimate, by insisting on unionized labor.

Federal transportation has only put up one of the two billion for the project.

My bet is Donald Trump won’t put up a single dime for this mess.

As it stands, the plan to connect 1.9 miles of light rail from Oregon to Washington ranks as the single most expensive train project anywhere on Earth at more than one billion bucks a mile

Today, legislator John Ley introduced a bill that would ban any funding from Washington state to an out of state transit agency, in this case, TriMet.

You see, TriMet is drowning in costs and they’re looking for Washington taxpayers to throw them a life ring.

I say let ‘em sink, kill the billion dollar choo choo, and build a new bridge that actually serves the needs of citizens.

Listen to The Lars Larson Show weekdays noon-3 p.m. (Northwest show) and 3-6 p.m. (national show). He is a Vancouver resident.