Camas resident Rick Vermeers says there is huge pressure to do whatever is necessary to start construction before the statutory deadline for the $1.5 billion award from the Federal Bridge Investment Program

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

Anyone who has managed many complicated major dollar projects has reached the point where a combination of upper management pressure, political pressure, scope creep, regulatory delays, or cost increases has caused the project manager to abandon the original project plan and start to rely on hope alone to get their project off the ground. This is highly evident in the I-5 Bridge replacement project. There is no prominent Gantt chart (project diagram) displayed on the IBR website, which would suggest that hope is the only plan in place at this point. Also, there is no updated cost projection.

The statutory deadline for the $1.5 billion award from the Federal Bridge Investment Program is September 30 of 2026. As a result, there will be huge pressure to do whatever is necessary to start construction before that date. Typical ways to do this are to start land acquisition before the project is approved, prepay contractors to do work prior to when the work has been performed, post-date invoices for work that is performed prior to project approval, order materials prior to project approval, and on and on. These are all likely statutory or administrative law violations. I am not saying that any of these have been done or will be done. All that I am saying is that the situation is ripe for abuse.

If the decisions were made today to allow the 116 height of the bridge, it is hard to believe that construction would begin before September 30th of 2026 without some well-placed incentives or quid pro quos.

Luckily, we have people who are laser-focused on what is happening on this project and will likely expose any attempts to circumvent proper procedure.

Greg Johnson’s preferred alternative clearly includes light rail. He could go a long way toward inspiring confidence in the project if he were to publish a detailed Gantt chart that would meet the required deadline with updated costs. Such a chart should be updated monthly with previous versions prominently visible to citizens on the website. Citizens of Oregon and Washington must have access to information which might suggest a scope or cost change. Cost data should be updated at least quarterly to account for inflation and any project compression.

Richard L. Vermeers, PE
Retired Director of Electrical Engineering
Avista Utilities, Spokane, WA
Current Clark County resident