Bob Ortblad believes the IBR’s proposed bridge will be more dangerous than the existing bridge

Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author alone and may not reflect the editorial position of ClarkCountyToday.com

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” – Upton Sinclair

Bob Ortblad

The Washington State Department of Transportation and Oregon Department of Transportation both have a “state safety engineer.” Both of these engineers have Ph.D.’s and years of experience. On June 7, 2026, I sent them an email requesting a professional engineering opinion on the safety of the design of the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program’s (IBR) bridge and approaches.

Zero response!

The IBR claims its new bridge will be safer than the current bridge. I believe it will be more dangerous.

• Most dangerous will be the Vancouver bridge approach. Cars and trucks driving north will descend a tight S-curve on a north-facing -3% grade that will frequently be wet or covered with black ice. Vancouver has 175 rainy/snowy days annually and 156 potential frost days, which can lead to black ice.

• Existing bridge approaches are on the ground, but the IBR bridge approaches will be elevated for about 1,500 feet on both banks, making black ice more frequent and dangerous.

• Two existing cloverleafs have safe grades, with down for entering the freeway and up for exiting the freeway. The IBR design is reversing these safe grades to a dangerous down for off and up for on. IBR’s off-ramp to SR-14 will also be very steep with a tight curve.

• Seven months a year, IBR’s Bridge will have crosswind gusts of over 50mph that can blow over a semi-truck, RV, or travel trailer.

The IBR fraudulently disqualified a safer immersed tunnel alternative that would have no S-curve and be weather protected. An immersed tunnel would also be less costly (eliminates the need for 96 costly drilled shafts and 1,775 temporary piles). An immersed tunnel could be built faster (fabricated on land, less dependent on in-water work window), would be more earthquake-resilient, reduce freeway noise and elevated freeway blight, and preserve the current bridges (saving $390 million in demolition) for local traffic.

Bob Ortblad MSCE, MBA
Seattle

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