Officials Lovingly Inspect Bridge They Have Sworn to Demolish
By Dot Klickitat · Gorge Patrol ·
WHITE SALMON — Crews from the Oregon Department of Transportation began a weeklong inspection of the Hood River–White Salmon Bridge on Monday, examining every rivet of a structure whose removal is official policy on both sides of the river.
The biannual inspection runs through Friday, even as the bi-state authority created specifically to replace the bridge advances that work with the help of a recent $5 million federal grant to Klickitat County and the Port of Hood River. Observers compared the exercise to a full physical for a patient everyone has agreed to retire.
“This is the most attention it’s gotten since me,” said a windsurfer passing beneath the deck.
Asked whether the arrangement recalled a certain bridge downriver, officials declined to make the comparison, then continued declining for several minutes, unprompted, in detail.
The span is expected to pass the inspection, or fail it, whichever result means it gets replaced.
Filed after: ODOT's weeklong biannual inspection of the Hood River–White Salmon Bridge, July 13–17 — the same span a bi-state authority exists to replace. Real. — Ed.