Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle says WSU Vancouver students “have a role” in the I-5 bridge discussion. Uncertainty surrounding the century-old bridge and its future impacts students commuting to the WSU Vancouver campus, said McEnerny-Ogle at the Oct. 1 Vancouver City Council meeting.
With being in the very early stages of the most recent efforts regarding a new I-5 bridge, McEnerny-Ogle wants the governor talking about it. She said, “We’re looking at about two or three years out if we can get everything organized, we have the conversations and start preparing documents for each other and then ask the federal government. Then maybe we can start construction in five years and if everything goes well, we can be done in 10 years.”
McEnerny-Ogle said, “The Columbia River crossing [study] is still useable, if we don’t move some of the underwater “pilings” then they are still good. But there’s a lot of work we don’t know.” She added that there is a possibility of tolls or user fees for crossing the bridge, considering previous bridge work discussions have also included this possibility.
All things considered, the mayor’s main concerns with the I-5 bridge is safety and the bridge having a lift. The I-5 bridge is over 100 years old and the pillars holding it up are laying in mud, not bedrock, according to McEnerny-Ogle. “This bridge is floating, it’s not sound.”
With the I-5 bridge also being a lift bridge, meaning the construction of the bridge allows for it to stop traffic and lift the roadway to a higher elevation, it allows for the passage of cargo ships and sail boats to travel in the river below. This feature is known to cause heavy traffic, with numerous boats passing through each day.
McEnerny-Ogle said that the bridge lift can cause “up to seven hours a day” of people waiting in traffic for the bridge to come down. Because of this, she wants there to be conversations about eliminating the lift feature of the bridge altogether.
During the meeting she mentioned that she has taken this resolution to “sister cities” including the three ports, Camas, Washougal and Ridgefield, then to the county, asking for their considerations. According to McEnerny-Ogle the only city yet to respond is Battle Ground, with all of the others she has approached agreeing to pass the resolution.
Within the same conversation, she said, “On August 6 the Vancouver City Council passed a very simple resolution, to ask the governor if he would put into his budget the money needed to open an office so that the Washington state Department of Transportation could start a new project.”
Other issues discussed at the city council meeting included a proposed partial removal of a development agreement applying to five properties at 148th Ave and Mill Plain Blvd. The measure passed after a public hearing.
Council members concluded the meeting discussing the success of the new downtown Vancouver waterfront grand opening. Council member Laurie Lebowsky said “One thing that struck me about that waterfront opening is that it is a good example of public infrastructure investment and how it can facilitate private development as far as are challenges right now such as the I-5 bridge.”
I’m going to travel the whole world, learn everything about it, and then write about it.