PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — As it stands, groundbreaking for a new Columbia River bridge between Oregon and Washington is not set to begin for another 18 months.
But six years since the project began, both states have already spent $130 million without picking up a shovel.
The Oregonian reports that expenditures for the protracted project include $83,000 for a German engineer who worked the equivalent of two months on the project. The engineer provided instrumental analysis of initial bridge designs.
In all, engineering sub-contractors and consultants have billed the project millions of dollars. The project spends about $60,000 a day.
