68% of Respondents Want Light Rail for Clark County, Wash.
Don Hamilton
The Columbian
http://www.masstransitmag.com/articl...tion=3&id=2218
Light rail appears far more popular in Clark County today than when it was resoundingly defeated by voters nearly 12 years ago, according to a new poll released Thursday by the Columbia River Crossing study group.
The poll showed 68 percent of Clark County respondents favored extending light rail into Vancouver and farther north as one method of addressing Interstate 5 congestion. In the three Portland-area counties, 76 percent of respondents favored light rail across the Columbia River.
Clark County respondents also supported a new bridge, more lanes and employer incentives for flexible work hours, but opposed tolls.
The numbers represent a turnaround for light rail from February 1995, when Clark County voters defeated a proposal extending the line north of the Columbia River by a 2-to-1 margin. Since then, transit planners have accepted as gospel that light rail is a loser on the north side of the river.
But these new poll numbers could re-energize local light-rail supporters and influence policymakers who, over the next year, will make a series of decisions on whether to build a new bridge across the Columbia River and whether to add dedicated lanes for mass transit to it.
The poll, commissioned by the Columbia River Crossing project, surveyed voter feelings on options for improving traffic flow along I-5, with particular attention to ways of crossing the river. The poll, conducted Nov. 27 to Dec. 4 by the Portland firm Davis, Hibbitts and Midghall, questioned 400 registered voters from Clark County -- 180 of them from Vancouver -- and 400 residents of the three Portland-area counties in Oregon.
Highlights of poll
Here are a few highlights:
The poll showed 22 percent of Clark County voters rate traffic congestion as the issue they most want government to address, more than all other topics, including education, growth management, health care and public safety. In the three Portland area counties, 16 percent of voters agreed traffic was their top issue.
Sixty-one percent of Clark County voters opposed tolls as a way to pay for highway maintenance, but 44 percent said they'd be willing to pay a $2 toll to pay for construction of a new bridge. In the Portland area, 53 percent opposed tolling in principle, while 53 percent also said they'd be willing to pay a $2 toll to build the bridge.
Fifty-four percent of Clark County voters said the transportation option they most wanted was a new I-5 lane that could be used by all vehicles. The same option was the choice of 43 voters in the Oregon portion of the survey.
Vancouver Mayor Royce Pollard, a longtime light-rail supporter, sees the poll as a valid reflection of Clark County sentiments about transportation. But he doesn't think light-rail supporters should see the poll as definitive.
"I looked and it and said, 'Wow!' and said then 'Wait a minute, let's settle down.' I don't think anyone should be jumping up and dow n. A lot of details need to come out and a lot of people need to get engaged. It's probably pretty valid, but there's a lot more to come. There are good signs, but it's not the end of the game yet."
Clark County Commissioner Betty Sue Morris sounded dubious. She pointed to a section of the poll where respondents were asked, without prompting, what was needed to ease I-5's congestion. Only 13 percent of Clark County respondents mentioned light rail or mass transit while 82 percent mentioned highways and new bridges.
"It's always been very clear Metro and TriMet are very anxious to run light rail across the river," Morris said. "Mayor Pollard is very anxious to get it here, but the rest of the community is not persuaded."
Sometime in 2008, the Columbia River Crossing project -- 39 representatives of government and private industry from both sides of the river -- may decide to replace the Interstate 5 Bridge with a new structure at a cost that could exceed $2 billion. Construction could start in 2009. The project is funded by the federal government and the states of Washington and Oregon.
Placing light rail on the new bridge is one of the three proposals to survive the process of narrowing the list of ideas down from 12.
No quizzing on how to pay
The poll, though, did not quiz voters about ways to pay for the project, light rail or not. No cost estimate has yet been prepared, but the price tag, project officials agreed, could exceed $2 billion. Respondents may have said they liked light rail but feelings could change when they're asked to pay for it.
"Money votes are always a bit different," said Fred Hansen, TriMet's general manager. "This poll was not about paying for it. It was about what needs to be done."
State Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, a light-rail opponent, predicted that if asked to decide the issue, voters will again oppose light rail.
"When people of Clark County realize what the cost to them as taxpayers will be for light rail," he said, "you'll have an overwhelming percentage who will say no, especially when they understand it will provide no relief to any kind of traffic congestion."
Hansen, head of the agency that runs Portland's light-rail system, said Portland-area communities find light rail a benefit. He said Tigard hopes to get connected to the system. Milwaukie rejected it a decade ago but changed its mind and is now planning for a new line down McLoughlin Boulevard. Forest Grove officials told Hansen the city lost a new Pacific University project to Hillsboro because it didn't have light rail.
The apparent shift in attitude toward light rail may reflect a very different demographic picture in Clark County than 1995. In February 1995, the anti-tax revolt had reached one of its pinnacles with the Republican takeover of Congress taking place only three months earlier. Since then, Clark County has grown dramatically while congestion has worsened.
In 1995, Portland's light-rail line reached only 15 miles from Portland to Gresham. Today, light rail has become far more deeply ingrained in the transit psychology of the Portland area, and a Clark County line would offer more connections than the system had in 1995. Since the vote, the system has grown to 44 miles, serving Portland International Airport and north Portland, a line that comes within a mile of the Columbia River.
Don Hamilton can be reached at or 360-759-8010.
Update
* Previously: The Columbia River Crossing project is studying whether to build a new bridge across the Columbia River.
* What's new: The project released a poll Thursday showing 68 percent of Clark County voters would like to see light rail included in the project.
* What's next: A series of public hearings will be held in January to hear comments on the proposals.