I can't be the only one who still drives a car

I've read a few of the recent stories and I'm really surprised that no one seems to be driving a car anywhere. Maybe I'm an outlier but I'm single, live alone, don't have kids, and work across the river. Prior to the expansion of I-205 I used to spend 1.5-2 hours a day just trying to get to work and back home (but thanks to the expansion/rework of the 205 onramps and offramps it cut 15-30 minutes off my daily commute). Taking a crowded bus that's just getting stuck in the same traffic I would be sitting in, having to stand in the rain waiting for transfers, is not a solution for me as when I last checked my commute would be at least 2.5 hours a day between 2-3 buses and a train. I have no interest hauling a change of clothes and toiletries to shower after a 1.5 hour bike ride each way either. Should I consider moving? My housing cost would roughly quadruple to relocate 16 miles and be nearer my office. I've lived in Portland or Vancouver since 1999 and I've seen traffic steadily get worse while everyone just continues to complain about it but simultaneously watch the leaders of our cities take steps that are explicitly intended to make it worse.

We need a transportation plan that actually accommodates everyone. Not everybody lives within convenient walking or bussing or biking distance to their work and where they shop and their family and where they hang out, so we know that passenger cars are here to stay. Like it or not, some of the biggest employers around here are in Portland, not Vancouver, so we know that people are going to continue crossing the river as part of their daily routine. And looking at how unaffordable it's become to get housing around here we know that the population count is only going to continue to rise. Getting rid of parking spaces and forcing everyone through the bottlenecks of the two interstate bridges while putting in neighborhood bike lanes that I rarely see actually in use is a waste of tax payer money, and all those cars idling in stop and go traffic create more pollution than they would if they were cruising at a steady freeway pace.

The true solution is to replace the I-5 bridge with a straight-across multi-deck bridge and build at least two new arterial bridges across the river east and west of the existing interstate bridges. These should all be designed to accommodate traffic for a projected population 100 years in the future, with express lanes for freight trucks and through traffic, put ONE protected lane in for pedestrians and bicycles and include the flexibility to support streetcars, light rail, maglev trains, hover cars, hyperloop and whatever else the next 100 years may bring us. Get Amtrak to provide affordable commuter service from Vancouver (and cities further north) to Portland - they have commuter service between Union Station and Salem so we know this isn't impossible for the west coast. Install more electric car charging stations in malls, parking lots, and street parking spaces - most car companies are committing to electrifying their fleet and ditching the internal combustion engine over the next 10-15 years.

At the end of the day, ignoring the fact that the people in this region own cars and, for the most part, prefer to get around using them, ignores and exacerbates the problems it's meant to address.