Rep. Liz Pike to host ‘Transportation Solutions’ Town Hall meeting, May 20

Rep. Liz Pike has scheduled the second in a series of “Transportation Solutions” Town Hall meetings for May 20 to hear from 18th District constituents about local transportation issues and concerns. The first Transportation Solutions forum was held in February with more than 150 citizens attending.
“The tough job of finding affordable transportation solutions to relieve traffic congestion and improve freight mobility cannot wait another day,” said Pike, R-Camas.
The latest public forum will be held from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Saturday, May 20, in the Lecture Hall of the Dengerink Administration Building 110, 14204 N.E. Salmon Creek Ave., in Vancouver.
“It is clear our citizens want to hear about new cross-river options and provide their feedback to elected officials. I’ve hosted more than 30 town halls over the past five years. My transportation forum in February drew the largest crowd ever,” said Pike. “It is clear Clark County residents have pent up demand to hear about new corridors in our region, in addition to new, affordable cross-river solutions in the I-5 corridor to address both short-term fixes and a long-term transportation vision for the region.”
Pike will be joined by other speakers, including Kevin Peterson, a transportation architect and planner based in the Pacific Northwest. Peterson has 35 years’ experience on transportation projects throughout the world. He will provide a brief presentation to set the stage for questions from the audience.
“This town hall will bring together transportation engineers and presenters to provide a lightning-round of potential bridge and tunnel options in several locations. One option, the Cascadia Commuter Express, would move 16,000 people per hour, with a trip time of about six minutes between Portland and Vancouver,” said Pike. “Another proposal, the West Express, would provide a connection from West Clark County to Hillsboro for freight haulers and commuters.”
“The main objective of this town hall is to hear directly from citizens and gain public support for a common-sense process that puts us on a path toward real solutions that would address our current and future transportation infrastructure needs,” she added.
A short question and answer period will follow each presentation. The last hour of the forum is reserved for public comment. Constituents who wish not to testify may submit their comments in writing.
Other presenters include David Nelson, a retired transportation engineer, Linda Figg of Figg Bridge, Clark County business owners Bill Wagner and Bill Huyette, and Brad Perkins with Cascadia High Speed Rail.
For more information about the forum, contact Rep. Pike’s legislative assistant, Shelby Pelon, in Olympia at (360) 786-7812 or via email at Shelby.Pelon@leg.wa.gov.