Congressman Peter DeFazio, who has sway over how some federal funds are doled out on transportation even though Barack Obama is “keeping score, brother,” says the current Columbia River Crossing drawings are awful and the bridge is too expensive. Well, I agree but we need vehicle capacity over the Columbia. He says in the Zero today that he loves the Villau Viaduct in France for its design and that CRC engineers should be looking for more style. Can’t argue with him there. Look at this magnificent bridge! Problem. Count the lanes. I think it’s four. Problem: there’s an airport in Vancouver to consider and those suspension pillars (or whatever they’re called) would be in the flight path. There’s nothing wrong with a beautiful bridge. I’m all for it. There’s nothing wrong with a cheaper bridge. I’m all for that, too. Get rid of light rail and you’ve got the beginning of a solution.
Transportation expert, Cato Institute Senior Fellow and Oregonian, Randal O’Toole weighs in today:

I’ve been to the Millau Viaduct. It was built with a public-private
partnership: the public provided the right-of-way and the private
investors put up 100 percent of the money. In exchange, they have the
right to collect tolls for about 40 years, after which the bridge
reverts to public ownership.

This is exactly the relationship that DeFazio has demonized with all
his might and done everything in his power to prevent from happening
in the U.S. So it is surprising that he would use it as an example of
how things should be done.

As for cost, remember the cost of a twelve-lane Columbia River bridge
is projected to be $1.2 billion. That is just about the same, per
lane mile, as the cost of the recently opened crossing of the Tacoma
Narrows. It is the light rail and reconstruction of every highway
interchange from Columbia Boulevard to Battleground Washington that
brings the total price to $4 billion. The CRC group has never
explained why they need to reconstruct all those highway interchanges.