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Tonight
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HOOD RIVER — Students from Hood River, White Salmon, The Dalles and Stevenson will participate in a construction career trades event May 21, organized by the Hood River–White Salmon Bridge Authority and Port of Hood River on Lot 1.
The trades day is meant to spotlight family-wage careers in the construction industry. While the bridge project will largely involve large-scale concrete placement and steel fabrication, next month’s event will highlight the broader spectrum of trades, ranging from electrical and plumbing to drywall, air conditioning, and equipment operation.
More than a dozen trade unions will be represented, along with Washington’s Department of Transportation, according to a summary presented at the bridge authority’s commission meeting on April 13.
“It’s going to be a great event,” said Mike Shannon, the bridge authority’s project manager. “It’s really starting to take shape.”
As many as 300 students are expected to attend. The event demonstrates how bridge replacement is a community-wide initiative with regional benefits, suggested Kathryn Thomas, an Oregon bridge commissioner who also serves on the Port of Hood River commission. Career counseling will be available. Details will be posted to the bridge authority’s website, hoodriverbridge.org.
In other recent bridge replacement news:
• The bridge website has just been refreshed with a new landing page, video, and renderings depicting updated designs. (Note: The bridge authority has its own website, separate from but linked to the bridge replacement site. This is because the bridge authority will have a continuing role in bridge operations, long after the new bridge is completed.)
• Two bridge commissioners and two staff are in Washington, D.C., early this week, updating the Northwest’s delegates on engineering progress and readiness to proceed — contingent upon federal funding. As part of a “full court press,” the team will meet with U.S. Department of Transportation officials to encourage approval of a $532 million Bridge Investment Program grant and explore status of a federal loan instituted through the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA).
The TIFIA loan, if approved, would be financed through future bridge tolls. However, there is increasing uncertainty over the status of the TIFIA loan program, prompting bridge commissioners to explore other, non-federal loan options to secure this final piece of the construction budget. If funds are secured, construction would begin in October 2027.
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