The president of a Florida-based bridge engineering firm will discuss the company’s plan for a third Columbia River bridge on Fri., July 25, during a meeting with Washington and Oregon community leaders.
The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at the Clark County Public Service Center, sixth floor, 1300 Franklin St. in Vancouver. The public is invited to attend or watch the proceedings live on CVTV.
Linda Figg, of Figg Engineering Group, will discuss Figg’s unsolicited proposal for a new bridge, including design details, cost estimate and potential financing avenues. Commissioner David Madore called Figg Engineering “North America’s foremost design firm and builder of segmental concrete bridges.”
The company received national publicity for erecting a replacement bridge across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis following the collapse in 2007 of the original bridge, which killed 13 people.
Commissioners also will hold a public hearing at 10 a.m. Tue., July 29, to take citizen input on the bridge concept and decide whether to put another non-binding advisory vote on the November General Election ballot. That meeting also is at the Clark County Public Service Center in Vancouver.
Clark County voters gave 58 percent approval to a third bridge in East County during an advisory vote in November 2013.
Madore is particularly supportive of building a new bridge four miles east of the I-205 bridge. It would connect to SR-14 at NE 192nd Avenue in Washington and connect with Oregon near Exit 13 of I-84.
“Both the I-5 and the I-205 bridges are over capacity,” Madore wrote on his Facebook page. “A third bridge across the Columbia River to move cars, trucks, buses, peds and bikes would move our community forward, relieve congestion, save travel time, and boost our local economy.”
The elevation of the Washington side of the river at NE 192nd Avenue allows for a bridge that could accommodate all river marine vessels that already navigate under the 144-foot-high I-205 bridge, Madore added.
“Distributing traffic across three paths is better than concentrating more traffic in existing corridors,” Madore wrote. “Bypassing existing choke points – the one-lane connections to I-84 and SR-14 – would improve traffic flow across the I-205.”
Madore told The Reflector that a bridge near NE 192nd Avenue has been on the county’s 20-year plan for many years “and has been confirmed by the 2008 Transportation Corridor Visioning Study published by the (Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council) as the best location to build and serve our community. It is close enough to the I-205 to relieve its congestion and yet far enough to serve as an independent third connector for the existing east/west corridors in both states.”
Meanwhile, a new Bi-state Bridge Coalition charged with pursuing a third bridge met for the first time June 4. The group is headed by state Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, and state Rep. Liz Pike, R-Camas, and includes lawmakers from both states.
