This is a surprisingly amusing story, considering that I could be
one of the people who pays for this. The solution is obvious, but no one
wants to say it out loud yet. This will be a toll bridge. Which means
they will also have to add a toll to the 405 bridge. Some of the people
who live here cross those bridges at least twice every day because they
live on one side of the river and work on the other. A lot of people
drive across the river to avoid the WA sales tax.

The highway department is also talking about adding tolls to some
of the freeways in the metropolitan area. I don't think the voters will
allow this to happen, but it will be interesting to see what happens if
they force a state wide vote on the issue. Most of the rest of the state
avoids driving in Portland as much as possible. There are more people
living in the Portland metropolitan area than the rest of the state
combined. Some of them will welcome tolls here. They're just that
"woke". LOL

By the time they finish building that bridge I expect that the
final price tag will be more than double the current highest estimates.

"Inflation drives up cost to replace Interstate 5 bridge by billions, transportation officials say

By Troy Brynelson (OPB)
Dec. 9, 2022 12:53 p.m.

Replacing the bridge will cost between $5 and $7.5 billion. The revised
price tag for the vital connector between Oregon and Washington raises questions for lawmakers and taxpayers.

https://www.opb.org/article/2022/12/09/interstate-5-bridge-replacement-inflation-adds-billions-cost/

TB

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