Metro candidates spar, agree at debate

I-5 bridge project and tolls spice up Wednesday Washington County appearance

By Jim Redden

The Portland Tribune, Jan 28, 2010, Updated Jan 28, 2010 (3 Reader comments)

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The three candidates for Metro Council president clashed on a handful of tough subjects, including the Columbia River Crossing at a Thursday morning debate in Washington County.

But Rex Burkholder, Tom Hughes and Bob Stacey all agreed that tolls need to be considered for several area freeways to funding improvement projects and manage congestion.

The debate hosted by the Westside Economic Alliance, a business advocacy group in the Washington County and the western edge of Clackamas County, was the first time all three candidates have appeared together.

The Interstate 5 bridge project is intended to reduce congestion and improve safety in a five-mile corridor of the highway that includes the bridge between Portland and Vancouver, Wash. Burkholder and Hughes both said they favored replacing the existing six-lane bridge as part of the project. The current proposal calls for a replacement bridge with a new light-rail line and wide sidewalks.

Among other things, Burkholder, a Metro councilor, said additional lanes are needed to accommodate on and off ramps to Hayden Island and the ports of Portland and Vancouver.

“The current bridge doesn’t meet the needs of the 21st Century,” said Burkholder, who served on the bi-state task force that approved the broad outlines of the current proposal.

Hughes, a former Hillsboro mayor, said the existing lift-span created traffic jams whenever the bridge was raised to allow boats to pass.

“It’s a drawbridge. You have to have a bridge that high enough off the water that you don’t have to raise it whenever a sail boat wants to go under it,” Hughes said.

Stacey, a former executive director of 1000 Friends of Oregon, favored retaining the existing bridge and building an additional one across the Columbia River for light-rail and, perhaps, other purposes. Stacey said using the bridge would greatly reduce the overall cost of the project.

“The price tag is the sticking point for me,” Stacey said.

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