I-5 breaking down: Disruptions, delays and risks mount; no solutions in si

[icymist]

Thursday, July 22, 2004 - Page updated at 12:11 A.M.

I-5 breaking down: Disruptions, delays and risks mount; no solutions in sight

By Dan Weikel
Los Angeles Times

Examining the girders that hold up Fords Bridge on the Umpqua River in southwest Oregon, state inspectors noticed a gunpowderlike smell — a telltale sign of metal fatigue. They then saw stress cracks that ran like veins through the main supports.

It was March 2001, and 2,000 big rigs a day were forced off Interstate 5 for the next three weeks while construction crews rebuilt the bridge. Many trucks took winding detours around the Cascade Range, adding hundreds of miles to their trips.

Along the West Coast, transportation costs increased by as much as $200 per shipment. California grocers, Oregon oil companies, Washington dairies and lumber mills in the Pacific Northwest all felt the pinch. The American Red Cross had to cut back on blood shipments.

Detours and disruptions on Interstate 5 are becoming increasingly common and costly. A vital commercial artery that crosses three states and links three countries, Interstate 5 is outdated, worn out and overwhelmed with traffic along much of its 1,381-mile length

<snip>

I-5's southern starting point is San Ysidro, Calif., the nation's busiest border crossing. There are 24 lanes for northbound motorists, seven for those headed into Mexico. It is the freeway's first bottleneck, the result of population growth, the North American Free Trade Agreement and the growing interdependence of Mexico and Southern California.

More at this

[Bluebear]

1. Sorry, we're rebuilding Iraq. No funds for this nonsense.

Our infrastructure crumbles under *.

[lovuian]

2. Ya the GAO find halliburton spent a few Billions Somewhere

don't know where but yes those Billions could put Americans to work and give us a freaking Awesome Highway

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. operation "Iraqi Freedom"

Has and will continue to drain the treasury. But according to chimp it is more than worth it to "secure the peace and freedom of the Iraqi people"

[depakid]

4. Some of this reflects local neglect

The no tax nuts seem to think that roads and bridges just pop up magically like flowers in the springtime. They've been so heavily propagandized by groups like Grover Norquist's and Dick Armey's Orwellian "citizens for a sound economy" that they don't realize that they're screwing themselves- economically.

The article talks about one bottleneck on I-5 at the interstate bridge between Portland and Vancouver, Washington. This is a serious problem, because unlike Oregon, Washington state has abysmal land use planning- Vancouver is becoming a major sprawl and what has happened to i-5 was easily foreseeable. Even so, 10 years ago, Republicans and stupid no tax types got togther and defeated a proposal (that involved a lot of federal money) to extend light rail into Vancouver- which would have gone a long way toward lessening the problem and making life a whole lot better for people commuting between Vancouver to Portland- not to mention more economical for commercial highway users.

I just don't understand what republicans have against mass transit- frankly, I think it's got to be pathological.

[redqueen]

5. I think their aversion to mass transit

might be directly linked to their coziness with oil & auto industries.

Just a guess.

[HuckleB]

6. Exactly.

In truth, it's time Portland chose to tax Washington drivers for using our roads to get their tax free purchases. Why should we continue to subsidize their lazy arses, while we're stuck in traffic, largely because of them?

[Nimrod]

7. Speaking in my own defense...

...as someone from Washington, I don't think you can blame us for the traffic. Admittedly, commuters from Vancouver probably aren't helping matters, but I really don't believe them the heart of the problem.

I live in Seattle, and work 22 miles from home. That 22 miles takes me an average of an hour and a half to travel each way, and this isn't even a city that has the daily out of state tourist trade that Portland has. I've also spent a good deal of time in Portland, and it's my honest opinion that neither city has built or maintained the roadways to accomodate the population growth.

This is not to mention up here you can literally tell when you cross the county lines by the quality of the roads. King is merely horrendous while Snohomish is a bona-fide nightmare. On my daily commute home, I have to pass a point where five (count 'em, five) lanes bottleneck into one single lonely traffic lane over the space of about 100 yards.

With a lack of any sort of funding to repair, modify, or widen roadways and people getting black eyes for even mentioning light rail it all makes up for one holy hell of a traffic mess that just isn't going to go away any time soon.

[HuckleB]

9. Sorry, but I live here.

The worst areas for traffic problems are in the morning on I-5 and I-205 going south from Vancouver for the couple of miles past the bridges crossing the Columbia, and in the evening on I-5 and I-205 going north into Vancouver for the couple of miles before the bridges. The only area that's anywhere near as bad is the I-5 to I-84 interchange, which includes plenty of Washington plates.

I ride a bike most of the time, anymore. And it's not just for my health.

As for the rest of your post, the truth is that Portland and Seattle have as good an infrastructure as anywhere. I've spent time in cities that try to build there way out of congenstion with more and more freeways, and, for some reason, the congestion just keeps getting worse and worse, as people drive more and more and farther and farther.

I-5 does need improving up and down the west coast, but, with such high density population in the corridor, it will never carry all the traffic very well. High-speed train is one viable way of providing an adjunct. As it is, when one considers time to the aiport, waiting at the airport, etc... it's just about as fast to take a train to Seattle from Portland as it is to fly or drive, especially with the likelihood of facing at least one rush hour (Portland/Vancouver, Olympia, Tacoma, or Seattle) along the way.

[Nimrod]

11. And I live here

Well, I'm not going to pretend that I've spent much time in any other major cities than Seattle or Portland. I haven't. But believe me, I live HERE, and I can see where and how major problem areas could be improved. Everybody we've ever elected up here for the last decade says he's going to do the exact same things to fix traffic, sometimes verbatim, and not a one of them has ever gotten past the theory stage.

Perfect example: I have to drive myself rather than take public transport, reason being is public transport increases my average commute time by a full two hours a day. The two big reasons for this are because there aren't enough vehicles to begin with, and extremely poor coordination between the county bus lines makes for horrible connections. On top of that, the busses are old and just a bit spooky to ride unless you like hypodermic needles.

I remember the last batch of babble in the "I'm-the-elected-official-who's-going-to-fix-traffic" sweepstakes. More public busses, repairs on old ones, policing of public transport, coordination between systems, implementation of at least two light rail lines, and a widening of key choke points in the I-5 corridor. Almost word for word as last time, not a dime has been visibly spent in any of those areas, and any or all of these would at least be a step in the right direction. It's a city and there's always going to be bad traffic, but sometimes it just gets ridiculous.

Once again. I'm not saying that Washington/Oregon interstate commuters isn't contributing to your problem. I just wouldn't spend too much time cursing our lazy asses when the real problems mostly lie elsewhere.

[HuckleB]

12. Since you don't live in Vancouver.

And you didn't vote down light rail. I don't see why you think I said anything about you at all.

Bizarre!

:freak:

On edit:

By the way, tt's not hard to get around Portland, outside of the areas I mentioned, not compared to most cities in this country, so my pointing of fingers at Vancouverites who praise their little "tax shelter" to no end, while I pick up the tab for services they use and get stuck in traffic because they can't help pick up the tab for what's needed in the metro area is quite justified.

[depakid]

10. Traffic around Seattle is a bona fide nightmare

I was just up your way last week -took the train ;-) so we could hang out downtown and check out the Van Gogh exhibition. We left town around 7:30 headed north on I-5 and traffic was still crawling. It didn't let up until we were past Everett.

It made me think "what the hell is wrong with people here?" Do they like being miserable in traffic? I honestly don't get the opposition to light rail & monorail. Wise up and build the lines already- it's only going to get more expensive the longer you wait.

[AlCzervik]

8. I can attest to the bad condition of I-5 and it's state sister route 99

tons of traffic, goes down to 2 lanes in some areas and the actual road condition in many spots is very bad. I have seen more huge accidents in the 4 years i've lived in california than i has in the previous 33 years of my life.

[LibDemAlways]

13. Anyone who has ever

travelled the portion of the 5 through Los Angeles during rush hour - which is just about all the time - has experienced true traffic hell. A sea of big rigs - often "jack-kniffed," narrow lanes suddenly ending in an off-ramp, speeding idiots darting through slow and go conditions - and some of the butt-ugliest scenery anywhere -- make for a nerve-rattling experience. The area down in Orange County near Disneyland was hugely improved over the past few years, but travel a few minutes north and experience some of the most horrific driving conditions imaginable.

[TrueAmerican]

14. Yup, I-5 from the Magic Mountain Parkway to

the 91 Freeway is an absolute mess.