Legislators want more involvement in transit and tolling decisions
The 16 legislators who make up the Bi-state Bridge Committee for the Interstate Bridge Replacement (IBR) program met Wednesday to receive updates on the various aspects of the project. There were in depth and active discussions on tolling and transit options, as the legislators delved into decisions being made. It had been roughly two months since they last met.
IBR Administrator Greg Johnson and his team introduced two new transit options that would bring light rail into Vancouver. The Purpose and Need statement calls for high capacity transit to be part of the solution on the bridge. Six of the options are light rail specific; three bus rapid transit; one hybrid option, and a bus on shoulder option as well. Johnson and his team have promised to be “data-driven” in their approach.
During his briefing, Johnson asked the legislators to keep the afternoon of April 21 free. He plans to hold a meeting of the Executive Steering Group (ESG) that provides more regular oversight earlier that day. The plan is to provide both of these key groups critical details of the project on the same day.
A great deal of concern was expressed about tolling and transit by legislators. Johnson assured them that his team will seek to do a better job allowing the leadership to provide input. The meeting ran long as the elected leaders asked for many more details than were provided.
The IBR team will continue to narrow down its proposed recommendations for the final bridge design between now and July. That will include whether there is one bridge structure or two. The specific alignment of the bridge, the mode of high capacity transit, and the Hayden Island interchange choice are also of critical interest to the community, as are the number of total lanes in each direction.
Johnson indicated that because the Washington legislature had committed significant funding in the recently ended session, this would allow the IBR team to move forward and begin seeking federal funding for the transit part of the program.
“We think that with the potential pledge of dollars from Washington, it aligns us very well with the Federal Transit Administration processes to get in line and to start their processes early,” Johnson said. “Before, we were going to have to wait until that significant pledge of dollars in 2023. Now we can start this summer.”
He also mentioned one of the larger “mega-grant” federal programs from the recently passed infrastructure bill. Johnson believes the IBR stacks up very well against other programs competing for those dollars. He specifically mentioned a new bridge in Cincinnati next to the Brent Spence Bridge, and that because the IBR has transit and active transportation components, the I-5 Bridge project was better positioned.
What Johnson didn’t mention was the $2.5 billion new bridge between Ohio and Kentucky would have no tolls. The two governors (Mike DeWine and Andy Beshear) believe they can get up to $2 billion in federal funding, which could cover up to 80 percent of the cost. Can Johnson and the IBR team get the federal government to fund 80 percent of the IBR?
That bridge is a critical freight corridor from Canada to Florida, carrying Interstates 71 and 75 traffic over the Ohio River. It would be the 7th bridge between the two states in the region, and the sixth more directly into Cincinnati.
Problems with tolling
Legislators expressed concern regarding a recent decision to allow ODOT to be the tolling administrator. This caused consternation at the ESG meeting last week as well. Sen. Lynda Wilson, (Republican, 17th District) started the questioning, which triggered a nearly 20-minute discussion.
Jake Fey, (Democrat, 21st District) spoke about significant “vendor performance problems” with the Washington tolling system. That caused the legislature to demand an audit. It is a big red flag for him.
“It did not discuss the many issues and delays and vendor performance problems that have occurred . . . on every occasion of setting up the tolling facilities in the state of Washington,” Fey said. “The delays and implementing this in Washington have been very problematic. There have been contract issues where the state ran out of remedies with the vendor.”
Rep. Jake Fey shares many concerns he has about tolling, as currently administered by Washington. Since Oregon has no current experience with tolling, he had hoped for more discussion and input about tolling administration before a final decision was made. Video courtesy TVW
Vancouver Rep. Sharon Wylie (Democrat, 49th District) agreed with and thanked Fey. “You articulated my concerns and exceeded the thoroughness,” she said.
Oregon Sen. Lynn Findley (Republican, Vale), said there had been no discussion by the Oregon Joint Transportation Committee to accept this responsibility. “ODOT doesn’t have the capacity to do it”, he said. He would vote against it, if given the opportunity to do so. He felt ODOT has their hands full with all the other obligations from 2017.
At least half the 16 committee members dove in and asked questions and expressed varying levels of concerns. One historic photo showed tolling gantries in north Portland that were seven lanes wide in each direction of I-5, just before the Interstate Bridge.
Frank Green, IBR assistant program administrator, briefed the legislators on the process between now and agreement on a modified Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) by July. Sen. Wilson asked if they would be given the opportunity to vote on the LPA. “What does an endorsement look like?” she asked. “Is it an up or down vote?”
Johnson responded indicating they would not be given a formal vote. Instead, the IBR team would be asking for a “sense of the will of this committee” and ask them to give approval for the team to move forward to the next phase. This is reminiscent of the Value Pricing PAC meetings where the staff rather than PAC members made the choices.
Transit gets intense discussion
John Willis, IBR deputy program manager, brought the legislators up to speed on the transit portion of the project. He called them “investment options” and mentioned the “the trade offs and performance of those investments” as he discussed their “draft findings.”
Key takeaways, according to Willis, was support for high capacity transit with “specific interest in light rail.” He said there was a desire for greater connectivity from Clark County into Portland and the regional transportation system. That is contrasted by the significant decline in ridership at both C-TRAN and TriMet.
The community surveys had 9,600 responses, including 1,700 open ended comments. Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis asked for more specifics on who responded to the transit survey. Willis told the legislators to look at information distributed last January.
Two new options have been added for consideration. Both bring the MAX light rail over the bridge and run along the west side of I-5 in a dedicated corridor. Willis indicated there were more light rail options than BRT options because C-TRAN had already invested significantly in new BRT.
Willis said they would be connecting with C-TRAN’s BRT system, which would imply a connection with the downtown Turtle Place hub. Yet most of the options run along I-5 real estate avoiding Turtle Place and the transit hub. One light rail option had a stop at Evergreen Blvd., near the Vancouver library. Two others continued north to either McLoughlin Blvd. near Clark College or Kiggins Bowl. There were BRT options to McLoughlin Blvd. and Kiggins Bowl as well.
The team looked at ridership demand out to 2045, for all of the options. It created 16 evaluation measures. “We’re trying to evaluate these (options) as holistically as possible,” Willis said.
Sen. Lynda WIlson triggered a great deal of discussion about transit ridership projections, and the inflexibility of light rail, once you lay down the tracks. She and other committee members wanted more data. She asked: “what is substantial demand” for light rail and high capacity transit? Video courtesy TVW
At one point, Willis said “if you build it, you do create demand.” Wilson pointed out that the IBR team had previously shared that there were only 3,200 transit riders using the bridge compared to 165,000 persons in general purpose vehicles.
“What does substantial demand look like?” she asked. “What does that mean?” Wilson wanted to see the information (data) that backs up the statements. She pointed out the 50 percent decline in transit ridership due to the pandemic. “It’s being underutilized,” she said.
Wilson asked if people were merely expressing “interest,” or if they were dedicating themselves to riding the new transit if it was built. She also wanted details on how they could project ridership out to 2045.
Willis indicated some feedback came from the community surveys and their advisory groups. But much of the projections on transit ridership came from the Metro and RTC modeling programs, “where we think the growth will occur.” “None of those (eleven) options fully meet the demand we predict for 2045,” Willis said.
Johnson followed up noting there were only two ways to cross the Columbia River. No solution would completely address all the needs and problems, but they are focusing on providing multimodal solutions to give people more effective options. He wants to spread the load on the corridor.
“We recognize that this corridor cannot only be serviced by single occupancy vehicles traveling through the corridor,” Johnson said. “We know that we have to create options for people and give them choices to ride an efficient transit service; to bike or walk in a safe and effective way.”
Fey followed up by saying “this is a hard time to predict the future.” He noted that people’s travel habits have changed, especially regarding work. “Will we be continually evaluating whether this has permanently changed people’s habits or needs related to travel for work,” he asked.
WIllis said there would be opportunities to “tweak” the high capacity transit system going forward to accommodate changes.
“Once you lay down the tracks, that’s permanent,” Wilson said. She expressed concerns about people being forced to live along the light rail corridor to access that form of transit. Whereas the BRT and even the express bus service is very flexible, she noted.
Rep. Brandon Vick (Republican 18th District) asked if people were told the costs before they made their choices on the community surveys. The response was the information was “generally available,” but Willis didn’t know the specifics of the surveys.
Economist Joe Cortright criticized the IBR team for failing to conduct a current traffic projection study, as promised by the Oregon governor. He wanted a serious financial plan and an investment grade analysis of tolling. Video courtesy TVW
Sen. Ann Rivers (Republican, 18th District) said the language being used was somewhat confusing. She noted language saying “The Vine BRT, LRT and express bus service will be needed.” “That’s our status quo right now,” she noted. “Could we just continue as we have it now?”
“When it comes to transit, there is maybe an inordinate optimism that exists,” Rivers said. “I hope that as we move on, we can get something that looks a little bit closer to reality.”
The discussion closed out with Sen. Annette Cleveland reminding the group that there is a limited amount of time to seek federal money. She doesn’t want to lose the opportunity.
During citizen comments, Ron Orblad made another pitch for a submerged tube tunnel. He indicated the IBR response in rejecting that option was flawed and should be retracted.
Economist Joe Cortright criticized the IBR team for not delivering on Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s promise to conduct traffic projection studies before making recommendations. “You’re using 15-year-old data,” he told the legislators.
Cortright also criticized the lack of a real financial plan. He noted what they have was based on the failed Columbia River Crossing project, and with a $5 billion price tag, it has a multi billion hole in the budget.
Cortright called for an investment grade analysis on tolling. He noted the previous effort caused the toll price to be doubled, which in turn caused a significant drop in demand to use the bridge.
Johnson responded to that by saying an investment grade tolling analysis for Wall Street would come much later in the program. For now, he believes everything is on schedule for a 2025 ground breaking.
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