Letter: Incompetence in CRC planning

As I am still waking up and reading the front page top headline on March 1 “Official: Planned bridge too low,” which reports that the Coast Guard is saying that the current plans for the Columbia River Crossing do not give enough height for shipping clearance on the biggest river west of the Mississippi I am beside myself with disgust.

One hundred and forty million dollars of taxpayer money has already been spent on this fiasco and someone doesn’t realize the clearance necessary to go up and down this waterway?

According to the report, the current plans for the new bridge as of now have a planned clearance of 95 feet, and Thompson Metal Fab requested 125. Did someone misplace this information?

Also, adding millions to revise the plans and add this extra river clearance leads me to the conclusion that a large body of people should be fired.

I had just read that the permission to charge a toll on this nonexistent bridge was given the green light, but now we are back to the drawing board. The incompetence here is staggering.

Now that I am fully awake and this sinks in, I have gone from dumbfounded to furious.

Philip Paul

Vancouver