Regional transportation planners will move ahead with a study that will examine if allowing buses to drive on the shoulder of parts of Interstate 205 would improve bus times and reduce congestion.
However, the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council’s board tabled a resolution on the consulting firm chosen by staff due to the its previous work on the Columbia River Crossing project.
The study itself was approved after lengthy discussion, because some board members feared talking about cross-river commuting was too much, too soon.
”As we know, we live in kind of a tense time in our life between the bridge, The Vine — everything else,” said RTC board member and Clark County Councilor Marc Boldt, no party preference.
“My dad always told me you don’t poke a bulldog too many times. I just don’t know if it’s the right time to push this subject.”
Republican Clark County Councilor Jeanne Stewart and Port of Vancouver Commissioner Jerry Oliver echoed his concern.
C-Tran Executive Director Jeff Hamm said he understood Boldt’s concerns, but emphasized the board was only approving a study. He also urged Boldt to “stand tall” to the criticism and consider the potential benefits of the program. He said commuter traffic is bad everywhere in Clark County.
“Congestion has built back up to higher than it has ever been. You can see cars stacked up past (Highway) 500, sometimes to 78th Street,” he said. “There is no other operation change to the interstate system across the river that can be implemented in a short period of time to bring any relief to that, except this.”
The motion was approved 9-4. Oliver, Stewart, Boldt and Republican Clark County Councilor Julie Olson voted no on the study. It was approved by Republican Skamania County Commissioner Doug McKenzie, Vancouver City Council members Jack Burkman and Anne McEnerny-Ogle, Washougal City Council member Paul Greenlee, Ridgefield Mayor Ron Onslow, Hamm, Metro Councilor Shirley Craddick, Oregon Department of Transportation Region One Manager Rian Windsheimer and Washington State Department of Transportation representative Bart Gernhart.
According to RTC staff, bus-on-shoulder networks allow transit vehicles to drive on a highway shoulder when traffic falls below a predetermined speed, usually 35 mph. Buses are allowed to drive 15 to 20 mph faster than regular traffic is moving. Highway shoulders where buses may drive are clearly marked with paint and signs. As of 2014, there were more than 15 such systems around the country.
The study will consider allowing buses on the shoulders in the Interstate 205 corridor from the Northeast 18th Street interchange south to the Interstate 84 interchange and on state Highway 14 from Interstate 205 to Southeast 164th Avenue.
Researchers will collect data on traffic on the highways and at entrance and exit ramps. The study will also include bus ridership, on-time performance, reliability and number of buses required to maintain service. It’ll also look at how the system will work at high-volume onramps and offramps and with emergencies along the highway, and what kind of roadways improvements might be needed.
The study will also recommend to agency stakeholders whether the region should move forward and how to do so. If the region embraces the idea, planners could use the lessons from the first phase to adopt the program to other high-traffic corridors. The total cost of the study is slightly more than $173,000 — $150,000 from federal sources and $23,410 from a local match.
Objections to Evans
After the split vote to move ahead with a study, the board tabled a motion to hire consulting firm David Evans and Associates to do the study. Craddick’s was the only vote against tabling the action.
Although the company was unanimously seen as the most qualified consultant by ODOT, WSDOT, TriMet, C-Tran and RTC staff, Stewart vociferously opposed the selection. She cited Evans’ involvement with the Columbia River Crossing and what she said was its “failure to account for multiple millions.”
“That is an outrageous act to even consider that in the face of our citizens and our taxpayers,” she said. “For us to assume that that’s a responsible decision to select David Evans — no way.”
In January 2012, anti-toll activist and current Republican Clark County Councilor David Madore hired a forensic accountant to review CRC contracts. The accountant, Tiffany Couch, questioned cost increases and accounting practices of David Evans and Associates. However, a Washington state internal audit of the CRC’s finances released later that year found the $37.8 million in payments it made to David Evans and Associates over the prior two years were proper. The final environmental impact and technical documents prepared by Evans and its subcontractors ended up costing taxpayers more than $55 million.
RTC Executive Director Matt Ransom assured Stewart that David Evans and Associates was selected based on RTC’s criteria. To choose a new consultant, RTC will have to restart the search process.
“We don’t have any basis in our procurement guidelines prohibiting any vendor that qualifies under our criteria from submitting and proposing,” he said.
RTC attorney Ted Gathe said he knew of no basis for the company to be barred from participating in public contracting and that Evans would have the right to participate in any new process. He said the board could revisit the issue next month.