Rep. John Ley shares his thoughts on the decision by the U.S. Coast Guard to approve proposed I-5 Bridge replacement project

Rep. John Ley
18th Legislative District

I’m extremely disappointed that the Coast Guard approved the 116-foot bridge. That negatively impacts future commerce, not to mention several current up river users.  We will spend $141 million of the people’s money on a “bridge too low” to “mitigate” harm to four current firms.

In the end, there still isn’t the money to build the $17.7 billion bridge. It’s highly unlikely the Trump administration will approve any additional funds. We know the current $3.1 billion the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program (IBR) plans to get from the federal government remains “at risk.” 

My understanding is the bridge is NOT being engineered to withstand a “maximum” earthquake from the Cascadia Subduction Zone of magnitude 9.0.  The engineers call that the “2,500 year standard.” The IBR is not even designing it to the second highest standard, the “1,000 year standard.”  Instead, the IBR team is only planning to design and build to a “500 year standard.”

What a sad farce. Using fear to scare the people into thinking they need to destroy the current two bridges, instead of repurposing them. All to deliver the unwanted MAX light rail 1.83 miles into Vancouver.

In the end, I continue to believe the project is essentially dead, because the two states cannot afford it. TriMet is near bankruptcy. Oregon’s transportation budget is in huge trouble, and they may have trouble funding the rest of their $1 billion obligation for the “promised” $1 billion.

The IBR team, including WSDOT Secretary Julie Meredith, are now mentioning they will build the IBR in “phases.”  If they break the project into 4 or 5 phases, it’s guaranteed to cost MORE.  So bye bye to the $17.7 billion “high end” cost. Say hello to a $20 billion or more “phased” approach cost.

We shall see when the IBR team will submit their answers to the 10,000 citizen questions/comments. Then how long will it take the federal government to review them before they can consider issuing a Record of Decision.

The drama and the waste of taxpayer money continues.

The people’s top priority is for a bridge that provides significant traffic congestion relief and saves them time. The IBR proposal, which allocates 54 percent of the bridge surface to transit, bikes and pedestrians, fails to deliver what the people want.

The people do not want tolls. The people of Southwest Washington do not want light rail.