During the public comment period, attendees were given two minutes to share feedback on the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program, with additional options provided to submit future comments via phone or email. One commenter advocated for building an immersed tube tunnel instead of a bridge to save money and reduce environmental impacts on the Vancouver waterfront and Hayden Island. A second commenter, representing local business groups, urged the committee to begin construction immediately, arguing that starting the project now is the best hedge against rising inflationary costs.
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Interstate Bridge Replacement Program Meeting · Mar 17, 2026 · 1:11:52–1:12:02 · Watch on CVTV ↗
Keywords: public comment
What was said
1:10:49 aiming for, phase one. So as the message gets out, let's make sure that people understand we're building a bridge. This is the cost that we know right now based on risk and all of the inflation, et cetera. And this is when we're going to start it, and this is our hopeful deadline. So it's not 2045. It's in the 30s, and it looks like 2034. So that is the message that I hope people understand. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Anne, really important communication message. Other comments or questions from our partners? Okay, the next step here is to invite public comment. Oh, great. Councilor Gonzalez, go ahead. Yeah, thanks. I know that we potentially have more slides as well. Is that right?
1:11:49 Or is that the end of the presentation? We're going to go ahead and invite public comment, and then we do have some next steps, which are just a couple more slides. But this is a good moment if you have any comments or questions. Yeah, certainly. Thank you. Well, I mean, just to chime in here, you know, looking at the map of the core project is tough. I mean, I think we've really been envisioning and hoping for a project that would have important investments for all of our stakeholders in the coalition. And I just want to acknowledge the kind of that, like initial set of disappointment and ripping the bandaid off. And also we need to focus on what we can deliver for folks. And I think that's really important tension to manage. I want to ask some quick questions just around some process oriented questions. I appreciate Matt from RTC asking some but with respect to the transit element on the
1:12:47 project, which is very important to, I know my council and on the Oregon side, you know, my understanding is that FTA awarded us $100 million for the larger transit project, seeing
Evidence (1 match)
cross_cutting keyword 1:11:52–1:12:02 public comment
ay, the next step here is to invite public comment. Oh, great. Councilor Gonzalez, go ahead. Yeah, thanks. I know that we potentially have more slides as well. Is that right? Or is that the end of the presentation? We're going to go ahead and invite public comment, and then we do have some next steps, which are just a couple more slides. But this is a good moment if you have any comments or questions. Yeah, certainly. Thank you. Well, I mean, just to chime in here, you know, looking at the map o