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A
Bridge to the
Twentieth Century: Megaproject Technocracy and the Columbia River
Crossing
Introduction
Who are the actors involved?
The Future of the CRC
References & Links
Comments
& questions to:
ambrown@macalester.edu
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A
Bridge to the
Twentieth Century: Megaproject Technocracy and the Columbia River
Crossing
Actors involved with the Project
Any
project that involves the governmental expendature of $4.2 billion is
inherently involved within a larger political framework. While
traffic engineers, transportation departments, environmental activists
and others have attempted to cloak their opinions about the bridge with
rhetoric suggesting their objectivity and the unquestioning rationality
of the science behind their reasoning, I wish to argue that every
stakeholder interested in persuing a particular vision of this bridge
is inherently a political actor pursuing political ideology. This
perspective encourages us to approach the manueverings of ODOT, for
instance, as not a monolithic, apolitical governance apparatus but
instead an organization aggressively promoting a particular world-view
that suggests we can solve congestion and transportation issues by simply building more interstates.
In
the sections ahead, I profile the roles that State Governments, Local
Politicans, Businesses, Local Advocacy Groups, and the Media have all
impacted the current process through which this project has been guided.
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Last updated: 3rd May 2010
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