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Interstate 5 and the proposed
Cowlitz casino-resort
A casino at the Interstate 5-La Center junction would mean a significant increase in traffic delays.
The Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River is already at least at capacity, and traffic congestion is on the rise.[1] A mega-casino-resort at Exit 16 would burden the bridge, especially during peak transit hours in and out of Portland, where most of its market resides.
The 2008 Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed casino-resort anticipates that 91 percent of visitors would come from the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area. As of 2006, an average of 93,317 daily trips are made on I-5 to La Center.[2] The proposed casino-resort would add 16,714 weekday daily trips and 19,574 Saturday trips to the circulation network, according to the Final EIS. Given that 82 percent of trips to the casino-resort are expected to come from the south,[3] the majority would surely involve I-5. That is a considerable strain for one enterprise to add to a critical roadway.
2009 Census estimates say the population of Washington’s Clark and Skamania counties is 443,000. Oregon’s Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties are at 1,650,000. If Oregon and Washington residents have similar rates of casino attendance, three quarters of those trips would involve crossing the Columbia River. Imagine the impact on the congested I-5 Bridge, not to mention spillover to I-205.
Despite the clear impacts this project would have on interstate and interstate bridge traffic, the Final EIS fails to present mitigation measures beyond expanding the La Center-Interstate 5 interchange. This overlooks the very real concerns of residents and businesses in the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area, not to mention those relying on Interstate 5 for transit and transport up and down the West Coast.
[1] Oregon Department of Transportation and Washington Department of Transportation, “Project Overview,” Columbia River Crossing, 2010, <http://www.columbiarivercrossing.org/Background/ProjectOverview.aspx>, (21 July 2010).
[2] Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas Inc., “Traffic Impact Study,” in Analytical Environmental Services, Draft EIS, 106, February 2006.
[3] Analytical Environmental Services, Final EIS, 4.8-13.
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