House bill makes CRGNSA eligible for funding

The proposal provides competitive grant funding for the 12 eligible NSAs, including bridges and roads in the Columbia River Gorge, which could provide funding for repairs to the Bridge of the Gods and the Hood River Bridge.

Rep. Walden, Port Executive Director Michael McElwee, Port of Hood River Commission President Brian Shortt, and Cascade Locks Board of Commissioners President Jess Groves chaired the discussion. Community leaders from Bingen, Cascade Locks, and Hood River were also present for the meeting.

“There aren’t many mornings that we normally wake up, and have breakfast, and think about how important these two bridges are and the kind of transportation dependency we have on both sides of the river,” said Shortt.

“When our lobbyist called us up and said there’s language that’s moving around, and we have an opportunity to sit down with Congressman Walden and talk about transportation and infrastructure — it was a golden opportunity,” noted Shortt.

“But the fuse was incredibly short,” Shortt said. The amendment he and Rep. Walden worked on was pushed through Congress more quickly than usual, and required swift action from those who wanted to see language specific to NSAs included in the STRR bill.

“Actually it was a pretty easy sale for me, because I actually cross these bridges,” said Walden. The amendment was successfully offer-ed and co-sponsored with U.S. Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) and Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.).

“This is one issue that was not in the original bill coming away from the Senate,” said Walden. “We took up the Senate bill and initially there was some pushback at the committee level about carving this out. They said ‘oh it’s already covered,’ and we said, ‘not really,’ and we were able to put together language.”

“So it [the amendment] opens the door for us then to proceed, you all to proceed, and I’ll support it going after the grant funding once this bill becomes law,” explained Walden. “The bill now goes, overwhelming 300 and some votes for it, back to the Senate and they’ll work this out. Then we’ll finally have a multi-year transportation bill.”

“Now it’s not completely funded for the six years but it’s funded for three to four,” said Walden.

“We’re trying to make the money go farther, get the construction projects underway sooner, and completed quicker,” said Walden. The next authorization for an extension expires sometime in the middle of November. Walden hopes to have the bill wrapped up before then.

“This fund that’s been created in the House bill — it’s not in the Senate bill — it’s for nationally significant freight and highways programs in which there will be four and a half billion [dollars] for fiscal years 2016 through 2021,” explained Walden. “There’s 10% set aside for smaller projects, which is where I think we’d end up, in that pool.”

Many appreciative statements were made by commissioners, port owners, and business owners during the meeting, to thank Walden and the people who worked to create an opportunity for the Columbia River Gorge NSA to pursue funding to improve roads and bridges within the Gorge.