The BTA has been an active participant in the Columbia River Crossing (CRC) project in order to ensure that the project provides the region with essential transportation infrastructure. We believe that the primary considerations for this project should be building a climate friendly project that is truly multi-modal, doesn’t contribute to the increase in vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in the region, doesn’t jeopardize funding for other critical transportation projects, and doesn’t promote sprawl and drastically increased auto use. For bicyclists and pedestrians, this project must create a world-class bike and pedestrian facility.

The BTA has strong concerns and conditions that must be met in order for the BTA to support the CRC project moving forward. We demand assurance from the project team and Advisory Committee that local organizations – cities, counties, and metropolitan planning organizations – will have the authority to ensure that their needs are met.

The BTA’s conditions for support are as follows:

Bridge Size and VMT
The BTA only supports a bridge that will not increase VMT. The current data and analysis does not support this condition being met with a 10 or 12 auto lane bridge.

The BTA is extremely concerned about interchange design. We believe that interchange sizes should be minimized and engineered to have the least possible impact on local land uses. Bicyclists and pedestrians must be able to safely navigate all interchanges.

Toll Today
Any project will require vast financial resources and the majority of these should be collected through user fees and federal sources. Start navigating the significant federal and state hurdles now in order begin tolling as soon as possible and definitely immediately upon selection of a project design.

Don’t Jeopardize Other Transportation Projects
The region has billions of dollars in transportation needs, as documented in the Regional Transportation Plan. The region has spent an enormous amount of time and gathered significant public input to determine these priorities. The Columbia River Crossing must hold these projects harmless and must not use locally allocated transportation funds.

Build World-class Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities
After a year of work, the BTA is advancing a recommendation for a 24-26 foot mixed bicycle and pedestrian facility on the west side of the bridge and 12-14 foot, primarily pedestrian facility on the east side of the bridge. We particularly are calling for high-quality ramps and access onto the west-side path.

Conclusion
To restate our primary expectations, the BTA wants absolute assurances that a CRC project will not negatively impact the region by increasing VMT, will not strip the region of funding for other important transportation projects, will begin collecting tolls as soon as legally possible, and that will build a world-class bicycle and pedestrian facility.

We have worked closely with many partners and local jurisdictions to ensure that these and many other concerns are moved forward. The BTA’s support is dependent upon absolute assurance that local decision-making bodies, including abutting cities, counties, and metropolitan authorities, have binding decision-making authority to move the project forward or veto a project that will not meet the BTA’s or other local conditions.

This specific issue of local decision-making authority must be addressed prior to the BTA being able to support any LPA being forwarded.

Sincerely,