| Remarks by Governor Kulongoski |
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| April 29, 2009 |
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Columbia River Crossing Media Availability
REMARKS BY GOVERNOR TED KULONGOSKI
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Portland
Good morning. Thank you for coming out today. I’m here at the Expo Center stop for a couple of reasons.
First – this is the last light rail stop on the Trimet yellow line. I know Governor Gregoire in Washington joins me in wanting light rail to be able to carry commuters and visitors from both sides of the river to and from Vancouver and Portland. The Columbia River Crossing bridge, with light rail, bicycle and pedestrian facilities, will enable that to happen.
Second – I am also at the Expo Center stop because this stop was never intended to be the end of the line – but an opportunity to build a greener and sustainable regional transportation system.
But the real reason I am here today is that in all of the recent talk about design and what the bridge will look like we have lost sight on what the Columbia River Crossing project is all about: the economy and jobs. Lots of jobs.
In my state of the state, I said that our transportation system is the circulatory system of our economy. Well – this bridge and this corridor is the aorta of that circulatory system – and it is clogged. And as long as it is clogged, so will our economic potential.
This corridor needs to be able to move commerce and goods efficiently. It needs to be able to move people to and from work safely. And it needs to be multimodal.
Yes, I care about the aesthetics of the bridge and I think that working together, an aesthetically pleasing compromise can be reached. But the aesthetics should not be driving this conversation. The economy should – and the thousands and thousands of family wage jobs for this region that will be created when we start construction of this new bridge.
But in order to create those jobs and break ground by 2012 we have a lot of work to do – we have to:
- Develop strategies to best incorporate and expand Bicycle-Pedestrian facilities
- Develop strategies related to Interchange alignment which ensure we have safe access to/from the bridge
- Conduct the environmental analysis to ensure we have a sustainable link between states that minimize GHG emissions as much as possible.
- Develop strategies to best incorporate and expand Transit
- Financial Planning; and then finally
- Adopt final details of Bridge, Transit and Highway Aesthetics Design
To accomplish these benchmarks we will need all partners – state, local and federal – at the table committed to a common goal for a bridge that is functional, multi-modal, safe, sustainable and cost effective for the taxpayers. A project for Oregon and Washington’s future.
But if you listen to the debate right now, all that you hear about is the final step of the project – the design, the aesthetics – when we have many more steps to take before we get there.
The reality is that we could debate what this bridge should look like until 2012 and still not have consensus…..but if that’s all we focus on, and ignore the very real steps that have to be taken first, we will never see any version of this bridge, the jobs associated, or economic benefit to this region.
At a time of high unemployment and national economic uncertainty my focus as Governor is on retaining the jobs we have in Oregon – and doing all I can to create new jobs and put Oregonians back to work.
We must be working collaboratively toward this goal. This project will deliver jobs. Thousands of good jobs. It will help the economy of the entire Pacific Northwest by opening this clogged artery so commerce and goods can flow efficiently and safely.
It will be green, providing light rail, bicycle and pedestrian opportunities for those crossing the river for work or leisure. But we will not ever see this economic benefit if we stay mired in the debate of design.
I’m here to call for the project sponsor council to look at this from a long-term, economic perspective. What can we do – what do we need to do – to make sure this project pencils out, is sustainable and opens the doors of economic opportunity for this region.
I want this bridge to be a model for the rest of the nation – demonstrating how green transportation can be the norm. But I also want us to be a model for working across local, state, federal and regional governments to get a job done well, on time and fiscally responsibly.
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