As a soon to be Vancouver resident who'll be commuting to Beaverton (I'm moving after I get married and keeping my teaching job in Beaverton, I have a few ideas about our yucky I-5 situation:
I'm all for a toll bridge. Toll me up!! Portland is a major city, and it's time that we start to financially support it. A toll bridge will encourage those commuters who are able to take mass transit to do it.
Get rid of the antiquated "carpool lane" that cuts our tri-country interstae into 2 lanes for 3 hours a day. Having only 2 lanes is ridiculous! In parts of Seattle, there are 6 lanes moving in each direction. There are always single occupant cars in the carpool lane. The other cars' occupants are often families. You're not carpooling with your 6 year old, you're just driving him home. He can't drive on his own, so it's not a carpool! Or, the vehicle is a work/industrial type van that is obviously not carpooling. Carpooling is just not reasonable at this point in time because it's just a step up from picking up a hitchhiker -- how do you know the person isn't an axe murderer?! I'd like to return home to my husband at the end of the night. Getting ride of the HOV lane will not add cars to the highway; it will just get those of us that are stuck in N. Portland traffic to our homes sooner.