Buttigieg visits interstate highway bridge in Pacific Northwest slated for seismic replacement
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is in the Pacific Northwest visiting a major bridge that's slated for a multibillion-dollar replacement
VANCOUVER, Wash. — U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Tuesday toured the century-old Interstate 5 bridge that connects Portland, Oregon, with southwest Washington state, a vital but earthquake-vulnerable structure that's set to be replaced as part of a multibillion-dollar project supported by federal funding.
The bridge — so old that horses were still a main mode of transportation when it opened — now carries more than 130,000 vehicles a day over the Columbia River between Portland and Vancouver, Washington, according to regional transportation agencies. It's a key component of I-5, which runs the length of the West Coast, but its congestion frequently impairs travel and freight movement.
Seismologists say the Pacific Northwest is at risk of a severe earthquake — magnitude 9 or greater — that could destroy significant parts of the region. The bridge is at risk of collapse in a major quake, which could kill many people and sever a crucial transportation link in such an emergency. Plans to replace the bridge have been in the works for decades.
“We don’t know whether ‘the big one’ is tomorrow or 100 years away, or many hundreds of years away, but we know that we should be getting this bridge into a more resilient state,” Buttigieg told reporters.
The bridge, which opened in February 1917, was the first automobile span to cross the Columbia River, and it became part of I-5 in 1957. A second span opened the next year. They include sections that lift to allow ships through.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and transportation authorities joined
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