Op-Ed: Clark County Rallies Against Republican Plan to Block Light Rail

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

MAX funding fight blazes anew in Vancouver, Washington.

After the last attempt to replace the I-5 bridge between Portland and Vancouver stalled out due to Clark County Republicans’ opposition to bringing MAX light rail across the river, proponents hoped to have better luck, but a similar debate is erupting.

The new plan sought to keep the MAX on the bridge and sidestep the political quagmires and overcome Republican opposition. Even two decades later, Republicans are just as opposed. Despite the opposition, a freeway-running MAX light rail line into Clark County is slated to be part of the Interstate Bridge Replacement (IBR) project.

However, C-Tran, the transit agency responsible for operating buses in Clark County, is lukewarm on the project. C-Tran’s initial position toward the MAX was that they wouldn’t oppose its inclusion on the bridge, but they also would have no part in paying for either the capital costs or the operating expenses.

In December, Tri-Met revealed the full anticipated operating expenses for the MAX extension into Vancouver estimated at $21.8 million per year and they requested that C-Tran cover $6.8 million of that cost per year. In response, after some debate, the C-Tran Board of Directors voted to allow themselves to pay for some of the MAX operating expenses. They did not commit to an amount or funding mechanism and with the completion of the IBR still so far into the future, there was a lot of time to negotiate on both of those fronts.

https://www.theurbanist.org/2025/04/12/op-ed-clark-county-republicans-block-light-rail/