- Vancouver, WA
Washington Governor Jay Inslee met Wednesday with Oregon's Governor Kate Brown at the office of the Murdock Charitable Trust in Vancouver to discuss the construction of a new Interstate-5 bridge that connects the Vancouver metro region in Washington with Portland's metro region in Oregon.
Brown and Inslee signed an agreement Monday to work together to restart planning. The governors committed $44 million for an office and planning to get the bridge replacement moving. That money will be used to work on ideas, designs, transit options and procuring federal money.
The Columbian reports that the governors’ action reinvigorates a goal to replace the twin spans, which opened in 1917 and 1958. The two-page memorandum of intent signed by the two governors takes effect immediately and lasts for five years. It makes a handful of commitments, including opening a joint Oregon-Washington project office that will re-evaluate the purpose and need and permits for the failed Columbia River Crossing project and evaluating the scope of the project, as well as a schedule and budget for replacing the bridge.
The interstate bridge is nearly a hundred years old and carries an estimated 130,000 vehicles daily alone. With the age and location the west coast is known for our earthquakes. The Cascadia Subduction Zone just off our coastline is overdue to rupture a magnitude 9.0 or greater earthquake. The last earthquake and tsunami was registered 350 years ago
A draft report by the project office, is scheduled to be released to the two states by Dec. 1, with a final report by Dec. 1, 2020.
Comments