Legislators Respond to CRC "Questions" Letter

Portland Mercury:

The big Columbia River Crossing news last week was that 20 legislators, including eight Republicans, signed onto a letter demanding answers on the big bridge project, including its "true cost." This week, four legislators who want to our representatives to sign off on a measure asking the feds to fully support the mega-project wrote back with an open letter of their own. Read the letter yourself (pdf), but it's just a recitation of the status quo... the exact same arguments that the cadre of critical legislators are hoping to dig deeper into. Such as: They're 60-90 percent certain that the cost of the project will be $3.2-3.6 billion; despite traffic falling between 2005-2008, people will drive much more in the future; and, don't worry, we will conduct an investment-grade financial analysis of the project "at the appropriate time" but doing one now would be a "waste of taxpayer money." [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

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