Most Recent Comments

Hello, I'm writing with concerns about the I-5 Bridge Replacement Program. At a time when our schools are underfunded, there is a housing shortage, and humans are unable to receive enough mental health and addiction resources, it doesn't feel like the right investment. Decades of research have shown that expanding freeways do not decrease traffic and only lead to more cars on the road. I would like to see a solution that encourages faster mass transportation and safer ways for people to walk and bike instead of drive. We also know there is an equity concern here. Noise, pollution, traffic safety, and tolls all disproportionately affect historically marginalized communities. Please take my concerns into consideration in your planning adjustments. Thank you, Mackenzie Weintraub

Study ways for the Bike Lanes on Marine Drive to be built safely as active Transportation Users travel Marine Drive. See Attachment

Study a better connection for the ramps on and off MLK Blvd - The MLK Undercrossing - See Attachment

I am concerned that the IBR is a massively over-scaled project that will saddle Oregon and Washington with debt while increasing pollution, congestion, and VMT in the Portland Metropolitan region. I strongly suggest that the Federal Government deny the Interstate Bridge Program a Record of Decision under NEPA until ODOT and WASHDOT propose a project with a more limited scope. I strongly support improved transit / light rail expansion into Vancouver, improved bike/pedestrian access across the Columbia, seismic-safe infrastructure, and decongestion, but I think the IBR proposals as currently designed fail to deliver quality solutions to any of these goals. This program is at core a needless freeway expansion that will induce demand and runs counter to our local and regional values and does not meet Federal goals and standards. I would much rather see a scaled-back, phased approach to this project that incorporates improved ramp metering and decongestion tolling to let traffic run smoothly. Seismic upgrades/replacements to bridges and light rail expansion are essential, but in this case it appears that they are an being used as an excuse for a massive and unnecessary highway expansion.

Make sure that conflicts between Freight and Bike Users is separated by barriers or separation. See attachment

I’m disappointed to learn the unnecessary freeway expansion is still being pursued. Please do not include expansion in this proposal. We don’t need more lanes! I’m excited about aspects and proposals that would include Active transportation and public transport.

Use the Interstate Bridge project to build the missing portion of the 40 Mile Loop

As the Clackamas County Safe Route to School Coordinator, I hear from families who have to travel all over the region for various reasons in a multitude of ways. The IBR project should consider multi-modal access and make it a safe place for an important crossing between states. Keeping connectivity for all road users while separating vulnerable ones from freight and vehicles is important. Reducing single occupancy vehicles is also important. With safe, efficient transit, walking, and rolling experiences some travelers will opt out of vehicles and feel better about doing so. Rightsizing this project and designing it well will help it be the success that it can be. The walking, biking, rolling, transit connections need to be considered at least as much as the roadway lanes.

Make sure all Active Transportation pathsways are separated from Freight users. See attached document

Make sure the connections to the 40 Mile Loop is direct with no out of direction travel for active transportation users. See Attachment.

Reduce ways to reduce out of direction travel for Active Transportation Users particularly on the Vancouver Dip

Study Building Multi-use path next to the Transit for better interconnectivity

Replacing the Interstate Bridge is an urgent priority for our region, but it must include considerations that positively impact the health and livability of our local communities. These considerations include: * Enforce symmetric tolling on the I-5 and I-205 bridges so that there is not an incentive to bypass the new I-5 bridge. * Constrain traffic speed and volume on Sandy Blvd and other bypasses where drivers seek to avoid tolls. * Provide quality access to alternative transportation across the Interstate Bridge, including for mass transit and bicycles.

Concerning the Interstate Bridge Repacement Program, I support appropriate siesmic upgrades to any existing or new bridges across the Columbia River betwen Vancouver and Portland, and including ample provision for public transit and active transportation. No action should be taken that is based on the deeply flawed projections of vehicle miles travelled and congestion under the alternatives considered in the recently released DSEIS, which among other things fail to take account of the well-documented phemonenon of induced demand. This strongly suggests that the proposed increase in total bridge deck width to a total of 158 feet (two 79 foot decks) would be counterproductive. I support providing not only for present but likely future needs for public transportation in the crossing design, and for adequate buffering for cyclists and pedestrians from the noise and pollution emitted by private motor vehicles. Options for the use of tolling not only to produce revenue but for congestion management should be explicitly considered in any build decsion. The build focus should be on modestly improving crossing infrastructure and not on a major freeway widening project.

Thankyou for hearing our concerns. I am excited for what this new bridge can be. It can be a shining star and example of the best bike bridge bike path. In order for this to happen I am in agreement with the suggestions of Oregon walks and the Street Trust. I agree that the multimodal path should be accessible to the light rail. I think that the current plan to have a 100 foot path down to the ground from the bike path is obscene.Travel by foot/bike or transit should be prioritized not punished with a grueling climb. Additionally I humbly request that along the multimodal lane that there are rest points. It would be so amazing to have multiple bump outs large enough for 5 people to stand out of the way of travel and to rest and take in the views. This bridge can be an asset and attraction. Having areas for benches and informative plaques would be an educational tool and allow for travelers to have a unique view. I encourage you to think about 50 years from now traveling on the bridge and noting what you are so thankful the planners included. The sellwood bridge and tilikum bridge both have these and they could be even better. Lastly I do not think there should be a separate bridge built just for Hayden Island. If the reasoning behind this is to avoid a toll, I think there are better ways to address this issue. I am not opposed to tolls as we have learned that the public changes their driving behavior from deterrents. Thankyou for all your hard work. I am excited to see the best version we can have.

The proposed bridge replacement is an enormous highway expansion in disguise. Its designers and supporters are living in an ignorant past, when many thought expanding highways was good. Now we know better: the way to reduce car traffic, fossil-fuel use, destruction of neighborhoods, global warming and a host of other social, environmental and health issues is by REDUCING freeway lanes and encouraging people to use other means of transportation. Presumably this new bridge will be around for 100 years or more. Let's plan for a wise future, not an ignorant past, and make it a much smaller bridge without any expansion of freeways. Thank you.

The new bridge should be a simple as possible considering a reduction in auto traffic and increase in light rail, bike and foot traffic driven by costs and global warming. It also needs to withstand the coming subduction earthquake that may shake 30 feet and last for 4 minutes. If the project is bigger than necessary or doesn't meet these needs, decision makers will beheld accountable for the long life of the structure. So "keep it simple stupid."

Dear IRB Team, I am concerned that overbuilding the bridge will exacerbate urban sprawl in Clark County. We know that there are many benefits of living in Washington and commuting to Oregon, from taxes and shopping, to quality schools and cost of living. However, we also know that we are in the midst of a major climate crisis that requires us to carefully consider how our infrastructure investments incentivise choices about where people work, live and play. Some level of constraint crossing the bridge, whether it's cost or time, is important for guiding household decisions. And we need transit and active transportation carrots to help people make choices aligned with a zero-carbon future. Please do not oversize the bridge. One auxiliary lane is plenty. Prioritizing bridge replacement, transit enhancements, and active transportation—without extensive freeway expansion—would be beneficial and cost-effective. I got to see Ira Flatow live last month, here in Portland. That week they aired a segment on induce demand. Listen here: https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/widening-highways-makes-traffic-worse/ Sincere appreciation for your hard work, Noelle Studer-Spevak

Please don't make us another LA. No one needs that. There are plenty of great cities we can look to in order to improve transportation. For inner city, look at Amsterdam or Donostia/San Sebastian. Bigger isn't better, more doesn't solve the problem and usually makes it worse. Let's not even talk about the climate impact of making it way for more lanes.

Oregon owes a lot of its strengths to rail infrastructure, much of which unfortunately no longer even exists (including the Oregon Electric and Red Electric Interurban Passenger Railways, an elaborate and extensive streetcar grid they interfaced with as well as an integrated bunch of trolley lines.) The turncoat auto industry lobbied to have our taxpayer dollars funded passenger interurban and municipal routes torn out and paved over or else neglected into failure after privatization in acts of premeditated sabotage and treachery; this is before they further betrayed the nation by moving manufacturing out of country decimating the American workforce only to be rewarded for this subversion by being subsidized by our taxes along with being bailed out multiple times only for the executives to pocket the money we were taxed for their personal profits of plunder and pilfering pillage. The further we move away from the logical layout provided by intricate streetcar grids and electric commuter interurban railroads the uglier and less livable the city and its suburbs become. An intelligent coastal city would take advantage of this limited time of people crowding in to install city assets that will benefit us for generations such as a rail route beneath the Willamette meaning the Steel Bridge won’t break the light rail circuit interrupting all MAX lines every time it lifts, and railway going between Vancouver and Portland when the new bridge is finally finished. I-5 should be buried on the inner east side stretch to make the area tolerable and reclaim space for the Black community to rebuild their community they had stolen from them. The WES should expand to extend at least down to Salem reuniting the Portland metropolitan area with our capital. It makes perfect sense to build the full Southwest Corridor (Purple) MAX Line (which will connect with the WES dramatically increasing ridership) with railway stations on Marquam Hill and at Portland Community College Sylvania Campus, for example, and zero sense not to. Electric cars destroy the environment as ICE cars do through resource mining, manufacturing processes and ultimately going to the landfill in mass droves. The pollution they cause is simply unnecessary as is the amount of urban space squandered on parking and other paved over autocentric wastes. MORE VEHICLES ON THE ROAD MEANS MORE AVOIDABLE DEATHS WILL CONTINUE TO CONSTANTLY OCCUR! They also perpetuate redlining, urban sprawl, the food deserts that come from that invariably, along with cities that are not navigable as a pedestrian or bicyclist and are, in fact, hostile to humanity along with being lethally horrendous towards animals. They add to traffic congestion. Commodification of societal needs and normalization of trying to substitute rampant consumerism where we need standardized, regulated and uniform public utilities doesn’t work. Profit motive always hurts the public in such cases. Putting the financial burden of transportation inefficiently and directly on the individual citizen is simply not wise or fair and hasn’t been the norm for even 80 years. We need to invest in commuter rail that’s properly implemented as it typically is overseas. A commuter rail system is an engineering marvel while buses are just buses. The most reliable predictor of a neighborhood being impoverished is if it has no commuter rail connection. The American people are apathetic through decades of disenfranchisement and a lot of that marginalization (eg Robert Moses’s racist urban renewal) is through divestment of public infrastructure, utilities and programs to help the American people. We can’t undo the social inequities inflicted upon and retained by redlining until we transcend the highway robbery carcentric built habitat that physically structurally reinforces them. We’re past the point of car dominated transportation being anything better than a tragic hindrance or an outright travesty. Public works projects materially improving life for the taxpaying citizenry will bolster civic pride.  Transcontinental High Speed Rail should integrate seamlessly with commuter rail networks so it can evenly function as one cohesive system and this will convert flyover country (CONUS flights should be virtually eliminated) back into a thriving heartland by functioning as an artery of commute and commerce which will reduce clustering on the coasts. Similarly, wholly integrated circuits of commuter rail blended with interurban routes, light rail lines, street car grids, subways, and even trolleys along with electric ferries functioning together as a comprehensive, coherent series of interwoven systems would prevent people from having to live on top of each other in city centers in order to have quick access to urban cores and downtown areas so this would stimulate our local economies and prevent gentrification from demolishing  cherished heirlooms of our historicity, destroying our classic neighborhoods, shredding the fabric of our communities and toppling our civic landmarks and architectural heirlooms along with other social capital such as venerable culture generating venues. We lost so many marvelous structures for nothing more than mere surface lots as our city was hollowed out on the heels of white flight to the lily white, poorly planned suburbs. Whole swaths of communities were obliterated in a racist/classist attack on the people of Portland and we lost entire neighborhoods along with cultural centers such as the Jazz District, our Italian and Jewish neighborhoods as well as other minorities who weren’t even assisted with any sort of fair, decent assistance to relocate. Proud people were disdainfully discarded as a diaspora of detritus. The absolute annihilation of our city still adversely hinders us collectively to this hamstrung day, particularly the groups targeted intensely, even if so many folk don’t know enough to connect the dots of cause and effect. Numerous studies show that built environments of homogenously bleak and bland duplitecture dreck that profiteering developers push on us for their privatized gains to our public loss for the riches of themselves and corporate slumlords not only cause homelessness from being financially inaccessible to most Americans, but also cause depression from creating such a devastatingly sterile, cold, unloving urban habitat that’s too congested and overcrowded to work properly as a correctly engineered built environment. Our roadways are overcrowded and no amount of widening them and adding lanes will do anything to help it because it just leads to induced demand that inevitably grinds to a halt at snags and bottlenecks down the road. Shouldn’t American cities be thriving centers of culture and character rather than austere and chintzy morasses of mediocrity?  I believe that we can design the cities of our nation to reflect a future that embraces humanity and that we also must for America to have any sort of a bright future ahead of it. Right now we are mired in the destruction of our cities from the inward attacking neocolonial oppressors who weaponize their clout of wealth against the nation for their own off-shore un-American gains of privileged, parasitic, private profits. This greed fueled anti-social exploitation is present day feudalism driving us into another gilded age. Tons of new petrochemical building  “luxury living” housing units remain empty serving only as financial assets in investment portfolios of hedge fund, “private equity” and permanent capital firm cretins sheltering dubiously acquired wealth instead of as direly needed shelter for humans. We deserve a landscape we can be proud of and country should come first before corporate looting and exploitation. Legacies are important and live on forever.  With space opened up in our cities we could rebuild beloved structures now gone missing from economic and environmental disaster utilizing new technologies such as hempcrete and 3-D printing. We could create vertical agriculture, green pocket areas, etc. on spots currently now just serving as paved over squares and nothing more. 20% of Portland is parking lots and paved over area not even suitable for that inefficient usage. We can extend democracy into offering the taxpayer residents democratic say in what their city consists of, how it looks and how it operates promoting civic engagement and participation.

I represented the plaintiffs in the lawsuit that challenged the underlying EIS, that is supposedly being supplemented. I also am a member of NEDC and the NE Coalition of Neighborhoods. Although that lawsuit is administratively closed and I do not represent the plaintiffs regarding this continuing NEPA process, I must object because neither myself nor those clients received specific, individual notice regarding any public hearings regarding this DSEIS or the availability of this SDEIS for public comment. NEPA's CEQ regulations clearly require that such obviously interested parties receive specific, individualized notice and that did not occur. In fact the only notice I received was a general U.S. mail form notice to the public at my personal residence about ten days ago. This is grossly insufficient notice to both the general public (not nearly enough time to prepare comments on this complicated DSEIS) and to interested parties. You need to reopen the public comment process and give interested parties individual notice and the public much more time to comment than 10 days. With all the money you have there is no excuse for this failure to give the public and interested parties sufficient and legally required notice. I also incorporate the comments raised by my clients when they commented on the DEIS and FEIS during earlier NEPA processes for this project. None of those prior comments were adequately addressed then and none are addressed by the DSEIS.

Please consider the long term future environmental and social impact of this bridge project: plan for higher capacity transit systems. Implement a low-income toll discount effective from the beginning of tolling. Extend the path to Evergreen on the Vancouver side and connect it to the Vancouver/ Williams corridor on the PDX side. The DSEIS doesn’t give sufficient reason for a second auxiliary lane.

I’m just here to say that this seems like a very poor investment of our general fund dollars and that tolling is inequitable and we should just not. That is all thank you

The SDEIS modeling of traffic impacts is deficient in its failure to consider the induced impacts of additional roadway capacity. This is a fatal flaw in the project's NEPA analysis. A fatal NEPA flaw is one that is serious enough and obvious enough that the EIS will likely be judged by the courts as unacceptable as written. Although ODOT/WSDOT and their consultants are well versed in the concept of induced demand, the project team has chosen to avoid its consideration, likely out of fear that to do so will reveal this project to be much more than simply a bridge replacement with transit and active transportation connections. Any induced demand analysis will likely expose the larger purpose of this project, namely a five-mile freeway expansion. The project's Purpose and Need as set forth in the SDEIS fail to consider or justify this larger project purpose. This fatal flaw can be expected to doom any SFEIS to a successful legal challenge as deficient. As affected parties (and primary financiers), the citizens of Oregon and Washington deserve better.

It is very disappointing to see that the DSEIS does not discuss induced demand, as it is clear that the preferred alternative will result in an increased number of vehicles on the road compared to the no-action alternative. DOT's failure to discuss induced demand is a glaring omission that undercuts much of the rest of the impacts analysis, particularly re: GHG emissions and impacts to air quality generally.