Update- Previously: The Columbia River Crossing Project is planning a new Interstate 5 bridge.
- What’s new: The governors of Washington and Oregon came to Vancouver on Friday to reaffirm their support for the project.
- What’s next: The project expects to release its recommendations this winter.
ZACHARY KAUFMAN/The Columbian
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire and Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski take a walk on the Interstate 5 Bridge in Vancouver on Friday to reaffirm their support for a plan to replace the aging bridge
Two states, tied together
Saturday, January 19, 2008
BY DON HAMILTON, Columbian staff writer
The governors of Oregon and Washington inspected the Interstate 5 Bridge in a joint appearance Friday, reaffirming their support for replacing the structure that connects their two states.
Govs. Chris Gregoire and Ted Kulongoski met at the small Clark Public Utilities station at the north end of the bridge and pledged that in 2009, their respective legislatures would address financing for the project, which could cost $4.2 billion. The two also met privately and then answered questions from reporters.
The appearance was largely symbolic and no major decisions were made or announced; but the meeting demonstrated to planners and local governments that the project continues to have strong backing from the states’ top executives.
“This is a task that’s extremely important to our economic future, for the region,” Gregoire said. “We know there’s a big job ahead. But today is the day we can say we’re partners, and we’re determined to make it happen.”
This winter, the Columbia River Crossing, the bistate task force planning the bridge, will release its findings and recommendations. Preliminary data indicate the group is leaning toward replacing the old bridge with a new one with a light rail link to Portland’s MAX system.
Gregoire and Kulongoski, wearing safety hats and vests, started their meeting with a walk onto the north end of the bridge’s pedestrian walkway to observe traffic and talk, over the roar, with staff members from the Columbia River Crossing. Trucks sped by a few feet away, and at one point the two elected officials had to dodge as a bicyclist pedaled through, unaware of or unimpressed by their stature.
The governors also reaffirmed their support for the mass transit link.
“Any time today that you’re talking about a transportation project, particularly in a large metropolitan area,” Kulongoski said, “you’d better look at the issues around global warming and around sustainability. You have to look at urban transportation differently than in other places.”
Gregoire agreed.
“If we’re looking at the 21st century, and we’re asking how can we help solve global climate change and how can we make sure we’re moving our goods and services and people, we’re going to have to look at it,” she said. “There’s no question in my mind. Now, how is it done? I want the communities involved.”
They said the Washington and Oregon congressional delegations are kept updated on the progress of the project. Kulongoski said the region is lucky because two Northwest federal lawmakers head key transportation committees. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., heads the appropriations subcommittee on transportation while Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., is chairman of a highways and transit subcommittee on the House side.
But federal funding will carry the project only so far.
“There’s a limit to what we’re going to get federally,” Gregoire said, “so both of our respective states are going to have to look at the finance plan and whether we’re ready to roll.”
In her state of the state speech this week, Gregoire singled out four “mega-projects” on the state’s transportation agenda: the I-5 bridge, a new state Highway 520 bridge across Lake Washington, the Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle and a proposed north-south freeway in Spokane. She said that soon, all will be at various stages of development.
“There are four that need to get done,” she said Friday. “We can’t afford to wait.”
Many questions remain about the bridge. Tolls, Gregoire said, will be a part of the finance package.
“The interesting questions there are: Do we start tolling before we even begin construction on the bridge to make sure the tolls can be lower when it’s ultimately opened? Do we do variable tolling to reduce congestion and give more choices to consumers? Do we have to toll someplace else because we’re going to push traffic in a big way” to other bridges? “In my mind, we are going to toll. How do we toll?”
Their encounter with the bicycle on the bridge prompted the governors to ask Columbia River Crossing staff about an expanded bike and pedestrian path on the project. Assured that conditions would improve, the governors vowed to one day ride their own bikes across the new bridge.
“I’m glad to see that on our watch this is going to happen,” Kulongoski said. “We’ll both be gone by the time it’s finished. But the fact is that we’ll be the ones that start it.”
The Bridge on the Web
Go to
www.columbian.com/i5bridge
for stories, historical photos, timelines and other information about the bridge project.
Don Hamilton can be reached at 360-735-4526 and
don.hamilton@columbian.com.
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