In a reflection of the escalating political difficulties in replacing the Interstate 5 Bridge, the longtime regional administrator for the Washington Department of Transportation has been tapped to serve as the co-director of the Columbia River Crossing project.
Don Wagner’s new assignment took effect at the beginning of the year.
“Hopefully, this is temporary,” Wagner told fellow members of the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council Tuesday evening in Vancouver. “All I have to do is build a bridge, and I can go back to my corner office.”
Of course, nothing about the Columbia River Crossing has been simple lately.
Wagner takes over for Washington’s former co-director, Doug Ficco, who moves into a design and construction oversight role.
“Doug is the delivery manager,” Wagner said. “Kris Strickler is still the chief engineer. This is taking the politics and financial (management) off of Doug’s back.”
Despite years of planning, fundamental questions remain over the project’s size, scope and funding.
Last month, the 10-member Project Sponsors Council put off a decision on $650 million worth of cutbacks proposed by project engineers, including narrowing the bridge itself from 12 to 10 lanes.
Wagner will guide the replacement of two existing three-lane drawbridges over the Columbia, but the project goes way beyond that. Over the course of five miles of freeway, between state Highway 500 in Vancouver and Columbia Boulevard in Portland, the overall project will improve seven freeway interchanges. It will involve the construction or replacement of about 60 bridges and fly-over ramps, 60 new retaining walls and a light-rail extension through downtown Vancouver to Clark College.
Even a downsized project will cost $2.6 billion to $3.6 billion, at a time when political support is wavering on both sides of the river.
Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt was elected in November after making his opposition to bridge tolls a centerpiece of his campaign. Portland Mayor Sam Adams, an adamant supporter of tolling as a congestion management tool, responded to anti-tolling sentiment in Vancouver by retracting his previous support for a 12-lane bridge.
Adams told The Columbian last month that he would “rather live with what we have now for the next 20 or 25 years than live for 150 years with a really bad bridge.”
Wagner now steps directly into the fray.
Wagner has served as the DOT’s regional administrator in Vancouver since October 1997. Bart Gernhart, Wagner’s deputy regional administrator for the past 10 years, becomes acting regional administrator for the five-county region.
Richard Brandman remains the project’s co-director from Oregon.
Erik Robinson: 360-735-4551 or erik.robinson@columbian.com.
