We will find that the collapse of the I-5 bridge over the Skagit River is an excellent example of why the developers of the Columbia River Crossing should not replace the existing I-5 bridges. They should, rather, build a supplemental bridge for I-5 traffic leaving the old ones for local traffic, transit, bikes and pedestrians — as proposed in the “Common Sense Alternative.”
A local bridge a quarter-mile upstream from the collapsed Skagit River bridge will carry I-5 traffic while the failed bridge, built in the 1950s with weaker steel members than the Columbia River bridges, is being repaired.
Redundancy is a good thing.
Jim Howell
Portland
