(The Center Square) – The Joint Washington State and Oregon Transportation Commissions met Tuesday in Vancouver, Wash., to discuss and adopt toll recommendations for the yet-to-be-built Interstate Bridge Replacement project that connects Washington and Oregon.
It began as the Columbia River Crossing project in 2004, but after years of study and evaluation, that project was suspended in 2014 due to a lack of regional consensus.
In 2019, state leaders resurrected the plan and created the joint commission made up of transportation leaders from Oregon and Washington.
“We really hit a major milestone 11 days ago when we were able to publish out draft environmental impact statement ,” said Frank Green, assistant program administrator on the IBR program. “We’re really trying to get out there and ask the public to provide comments to us on the EIS.
The draft EIS indicates short-term and long-term property and property rights effects that include the removal of up to 76 homes and 39 businesses in an acquisition area of more than 36 acres, depending on which final design is adopted.