🚧 Diverging Diamonds & DC Dollars: HRWSBA 4/13-5/11 Update

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🏛 April 13 - May 11, 2026 Meetings

The Body: Hood River-White Salmon Bridge Authority (HRWSBA) The Bottom Line: The Authority unanimously approved a $66.9 million 2026-2027 budget, cleared major administrative hurdles with new tax and audit contracts, and is gearing up to defend its Oregon-side bridge entrance designs to the public. The Vibe: Procedural but heavily focused on compliance and long-term financial positioning, marked by a deep-dive into public records law and early tension over pedestrian safety in the new interchange design.

🔎 What Changed

• Adopted the 2026-2027 annual budget totaling roughly $66.9 million.
• Approved the formal Grant Administration Policy and Conflict of Interest (Rev 1) policy.
• Secured state and local tax advisory services from Baker Tilly to navigate bi-state tax liabilities.
• Authorized staff to pay routine permitting fees up to $60,000 (with no single amount exceeding $10k) to keep the project moving between meetings.

⚠ What Escalated

• The Port Loan Pressure: Mounting non-reimbursable administrative expenses are keeping pressure on the Port of Hood River loan balance, highlighting the cash-flow friction of running an agency with no direct revenue yet.
• Parkland Mitigation Standoff: 6F mitigation for parkland impacts is heading toward a political standoff. The Authority is preparing to elevate the issue to the state/governor level to avoid being forced to purchase new land instead of making on-site park improvements.

🧭 What’s Next

• May 21: Trades Career Day event at Port Lot 1 for 200-250 local high school students.
• July/August: 60% design deliverables are expected from contractor Kiewit.
• Summer: Cost Schedule Risk Analysis (CSRA) to be conducted with the Federal Highway Administration.

💰 Budget & Finance: Maturing the Agency

• The Budget Committee elected Matt Althoff as chair before unanimously approving the FY 2026-2027 budget.
• The total budgeted requirements for the upcoming year sit at $66,971,000.
• The Authority currently operates with zero Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) employees, meaning millions of dollars flow strictly through contracted materials and services.

The approval of the LB1 budget is a critical statutory requirement under Oregon law, but it highlights a unique structural quirk of the HRWSBA: because it has no payroll, financial management relies entirely on highly specialized contractors. The issue moving forward isn't just the total project cost, but the cash flow. The Authority relies heavily on the Port of Hood River for a line of credit to float non-reimbursable administrative expenses. Securing external tax advisement through Baker Tilly signals that the Authority is maturing out of its start-up phase and must meticulously manage complex state and local tax liabilities across the Oregon-Washington border before major construction capital arrives.

🚧 Engineering & Public Works: The Diverging Diamond Dilemma

• Kiewit’s 30% design deliverables are currently under review by the Authority.
• In-water geotechnical borings continue to advance in the Columbia River.
• The Oregon-side bridge landing is currently slated to utilize a Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI).

While the physical engineering of the bridge itself is advancing steadily, the terrestrial connections are where the rubber meets the road for local residents. Commissioner Arthur Babitz directly challenged the engineering team on the Oregon-side landing, noting that moving pedestrians and cyclists safely through a Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) is a notoriously difficult design problem.

To understand the problem, it helps to understand the "Safety Paradox" of the DDI. It is one of the only highway designs in America where drivers intentionally cross over and drive on the left side of the road. While this "British Driving" illusion feels deeply counterintuitive, that counter-intuitive design forces drivers to slow down and pay attention. Crucially, it eliminates the need for left-turning vehicles to cross in front of oncoming traffic, drastically reducing severe vehicle collisions.

However, what is incredibly safe for cars can be hostile for active transportation. Forcing cyclists and pedestrians to navigate a system where cars are actively crossing to the opposite side of the road requires robust, often space-consuming safety infrastructure, like barrier-protected center walkways, rather than a simple painted "bike box." Active transit advocates have previously highlighted the challenges of these designs, making the Authority's proposed 'bike box' a focal point as the project marches toward its 60% design milestone.

"I told him, I said, Commissioner Babitz is gonna ask what we use to design our road on the Oregon side. You better have a good answer... I had a hotel room sitting on top of a divergent diamond interchange in Utah. And so for like two hours, I watched the traffic in this interchange. What are they doing?" — Commissioner Arthur Babitz

DDI Fast Facts

• Born from a Term Paper: The modern DDI was "reinvented" in 2000 by an American civil engineering graduate student for a term paper.
• The Safety Paradox: By temporarily shifting traffic to the left, DDIs eliminate the dangerous "left turn across traffic" conflict, causing severe T-bone crashes to drop dramatically.
• The Active Transit Friction: The safest DDI designs for walkers and cyclists often place pathways right down the center median of the bridge, rather than on the outside edges, which can feel intimidating for users sandwiched between active highway traffic.

⚖️ Governance & Compliance: Prepping for Federal Eyes

• The Board formally adopted a new Grant Administration Policy.
• Commissioners received a comprehensive training on public records and open meetings law from legal counsel Foster Garvey.
• Lobbyist contracts were extended for another year to maintain pressure on Washington D.C. for Bridge Investment Program (BIP) funding.

As the Authority scales up its pursuit of massive federal grants, federal agencies are demanding airtight administrative controls. The new grant and conflict-of-interest policies are essentially prerequisite checkboxes to prove to the Federal Highway Administration that the HRWSBA is a safe bet for taxpayer dollars. However, the deep dive into public meetings law reveals a persistent structural hurdle for the bi-state agency: ensuring absolute transparency while navigating complex, proprietary bridge data. The legal training emphasized that "disclosure is the default," a critical reminder as the Authority prepares to negotiate multi-million dollar construction contracts and guard proprietary engineering data.

⚠️ Broader Context: Needed Recreational Land-Swaps

The federal Record of Decision (ROD) is in hand, but the "6F Mitigation" issue remains a complex regulatory hurdle for the project's timeline and budget. Section 6(f) of the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund Act dictates that any protected parkland converted to transportation use must be replaced with lands of equal utility and value. The Authority wants to offset its impacts by improving the new bridge's pedestrian and recreational facilities on-site. However, state and federal park agencies traditionally demand the purchase of new, replacement land. If the Authority cannot convince regulators to accept the on-site improvements as valid mitigation, it could trigger a costly land-acquisition scramble.

🛠 Jargon Buster

• LB1 Form: A standard Oregon Department of Revenue form used by municipal corporations to summarize their annual budget. It dictates the legal threshold for when budget changes require additional public hearings.
• DDI (Diverging Diamond Interchange): A type of highway interchange where traffic temporarily crosses to the left side of the road. This eliminates the "left turn across traffic" conflict for vehicles but complicates pedestrian and cyclist crossings.
• Traffic Calming: Engineering and physical design strategies, such as narrowed lanes, speed bumps, or counter-intuitive routing like a DDI, intended to naturally slow down vehicle traffic and improve safety.
• BIP Grant: The Bridge Investment Program. A highly competitive discretionary grant program created by the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which is crucial for funding the actual construction of the new bridge.

How to Join & Learn More

• Next Meeting: Wednesday, May 27, 2026, from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM (Note: Date shifted for the holiday week).
• Location: HRWSBA Office, 1000 E Jewett #204, White Salmon, WA, or via Zoom.
• Official Materials: Agendas, packets, and public comment forms are available at the Hood River-White Salmon Bridge Authority Website.