As the former co-chair of Columbia River Crossing’s Project Sponsor’s Council, I read with concern the Sept. 5 editorial “Ignoring it won’t help.” Gov. Jay Inslee has always been and remains a strong supporter of CRC.
The real cause of Washington state’s failure to support the Columbia River Crossing project is identified within the editorial: “Inslee suffered a political defeat earlier this year when the state Senate opposed a major transportation bill he supported.” More specifically, Sens. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, Ann Rivers, R-La Center, and Curtis King, R-Yakima, did not allow the Senate to move a transportation package so long as it contained funding for CRC. Gov. Inslee tried. The senators repeatedly said “no.” If these three senators had not opposed CRC, we would have a truly bistate bridge project and we would not now be watching Oregon’s valiant attempt to salvage the CRC project.
Senators, the pressure is on. We have statewide transportation projects, including CRC, that need funding. Don’t let us down this time.
Steve Horenstein
Vancouver
