Letter: Use I-205 Bridge footprint as guide

1. The bridge funding is a combination of both states’ legislatures and the Federal Highway Administration.

2. Interchange funding is the prime responsibility of the states (Washington State Department of Transportation and Oregon Department of Transportation).

3. Light-rail funding primarily comes from the Federal Transportation Administration through Portland’s Tri-Met. Both states’ legislatures’ permission is required to cross state lines. Tri-Met should have responsibility for the total cost of operation and maintenance for the extension into Vancouver, not residents of Vancouver via C-Tran.

The top priority is the bridge. CRC’s 95-foot clearance beneath the bridge, with safe runoff, doesn’t meet the requirements of the Coast Guard’s river navigation, the Army Corps of Engineers’ dredging or private businesses. Also, CRC’s bridge proposal runs south one mile, from Eighth Street to Hayden Island’s offramps.

Superimposing the length of the I-205 bridge footprint (state Highway 14 to Government Island) and expanding it to 10 lanes would place it the same distance of Eighth Street to Marine Drive without interfering with either of the existing overpasses, while raising the clearance to 144 feet with safe drainage. On-off ramps for Hayden Island could be replaced with a pair of two-lane bridges beneath the replacement I-5 Bridge from Marine Drive north to Hayden Island.

John A. Nyberg

VANCOUVER