Light rail opposition grows in small citiesUpdated 2 days ago

Opposition to light rail on the planned Interstate 5 replacement bridge continues to grow in Clark County’s small cities.

Battle Ground City Council members voted 4-3 at their March 3 meeting to formally oppose the expansion of TriMet’s light rail from Portland across a new I-5 Bridge and into downtown Vancouver.

Battle Ground’s vote came one month after Camas City Council members unanimously voted Feb. 3 to oppose light rail on the planned replacement bridge.

La Center city officials have also challenged the need for light rail. They opened a community poll on the city’s website to gauge public opinion on the bridge replacement plans.

The I-5 replacement bridge is expected to cost between $5 billion and $7.5 billion and is slated to include light rail, as well as C-Tran bus service.

The plan agreed to by local stakeholders in 2022 includes a 1.9-mile light rail extension that will include a new MAX light rail station on Hayden Island and two new light rail stations in downtown Vancouver, Frank Green, an assistant program administrator for the bridge project, told the La Center City Council during a Feb. 26 presentation.

“I’m not here to sell you on light rail,” Green said. “If the partners want to move away from light rail, it could jeopardize some of the funding.”

Green said the I-5 Bridge, with its narrow lanes, short on- and offramps on either side of the bridge and lack of shoulders causes safety issues and is the “primary bottleneck” for congestion on Interstate 5 in Portland and Vancouver during rush hours.

La Center Councilor Myrna Leija said residents want a new bridge but not light rail, which is expected to cost about $2 billion to install and as much as $21 million a year to maintain the trains, bridge infrastructure and light rail stations.

“For the past … 15 years, I haven’t talked to one single person who’s gung-ho for light rail,” Leija said.

Battle Ground splits vote

In Battle Ground, the city council’s vote to oppose light rail was split 4-3, with Mayor Troy McCoy, Deputy Mayor Shane Bowman and Councilor Cherish DesRochers dissenting, but not because they like the idea of light rail.

Both McCoy and Bowman worried the vote against light rail could jeopardize Battle Ground’s ongoing negotiations with the city of Vancouver for joint ambulance transport and emergency medical services.

“I wish this resolution was four years ago,” McCoy said during the city council’s March 3 meeting. “All seven of us don’t want light rail, but this resolution doesn’t change that. So what we’re doing is putting our heels in the sand and what’s the point of that?”

He said he worries opposing light rail now could derail the new bridge. He cited bridge replacement leaders’ warning that changing course now could set the project back as much as two years at a cost of roughly $1 million a day.

“We need that bridge for economic viability,” McCoy said.

C-Tran board reconsiders

The C-Tran board of directors, which is made up of leaders from Clark County and its cities, was expected this week to reconsider a language change that opened up the possibility of C-Tran paying for light rail operations and maintenance costs projected to be $20.2 million a year.

In January, Clark County Councilor and C-Tran board member Michelle Belkot said she wanted the C-Tran board to reconsider a November resolution that switched C-Tran’s position on financing light rail from a “shall not” fund to “may” fund.

Camas City Councilor Tim Hein, who represents the city of Camas’ interests on the C-Tran board, said in January that he regretted voting for the language change.

Hein, who led the Camas opposition to light rail, and other C-Tran board members, including Washougal City Councilor and former Washougal Mayor Molly Coston, McCoy and La Center City Councilor Sean Boyle, have said they were dismayed by the projected light rail costs.

“I was shocked,” Coston said earlier this year. “The numbers listed were pretty astonishing, and I definitely have some strong concerns about that. It seemed like an unbelievably high number. And I have no idea how, on our side of the river, we could fund that.”

Kelly Moyer: 360-735-4674; [email protected]