Bridge Authority Commissioners

Nathan DeVol. I'm an alternate Bridge Authority board member from Hood River, and I own Dog River Coffee in downtown Hood River. I'm also an agent with Copper West Real Estate.

I had the opportunity to work as a planning commission member and chair of the Hood River City Planning Commission for eight years. I've continued to stay involved in things that are going on in the community, and this seemed like another opportunity to serve.

It's interesting, because it's such a large project and there are a lot of intricacies. So I was curious to learn more about it and figured the easiest way to do that was to dive in and be a part of the process.

No, not particularly. Although I am concerned, especially in times of wildfires, as we had over the summer, being able to get people to evacuate one side of the river or the other, and emergency vehicles being able to transit the bridge. In its current state, it's not easy to do either of those things. And so it seems like an important step for the community to get some better and new infrastructure built.

Professionally, the bridge is a conduit for economic goods to get to my front door, which is a business in downtown Hood River, and it is also the conduit by which employees get to my door. It is a very important piece of the puzzle of making my business operate.

To deliver a new bridge within or under the budgetary estimates that we have projected and make sure it's functioning and working the way it should for future generations.