Bridge Authority Commissioners

I'm Jake Edwards. I'm the GIS coordinator for Hood River County. I recently bought a house in Hood River County, so I'm also an amateur plumber, electrician and landscape architect in my free time. Also, I’m a father of two kids in Hood River Public Schools.

Prior to working for Hood River County, I worked for the State of Oregon as a program manager, for a remote sensing program. So I'm used to doing the same sort of things that this board is going to be doing, which is identifying contractors who are going to build the bridge, manage the bridge, and making sure that they are meeting all the requirements. My background is in geospatial analysis, so I have a pretty keen understanding of what goes into the spatial side of bridge building and thinking about things three-dimensionally.

Something that really got me inspired was the recent Tunnel Five fire, and even before that, the Eagle Creek fire. Both really showed me that this bridge is a critical facility for the region in emergencies. So, just making sure that the bridge can function and help keep our community safe.

You know, me and my wife got married in the Gorge about seven years ago, and half of our guests ended up staying in Oregon, the other half in Washington. We had to pay for a bus service to get everyone to the wedding venue. Without that bridge, it probably would've been a nightmare for everyone to have to drive an extra 45 minutes. So you could say the bridge saved my marriage.

To me it really comes down to safety. Having a bridge that's seismically resilient, so if there were something like an earthquake or a large fire, it would be a way for people to get either away from a disaster or bring help to a disaster.

I think secondarily is equity. Making sure that it's pedestrian- and bike-friendly so that people can use it to get around without having to use a car is huge.

The other thing is that the bridge is a gateway to the recreational options that are here in the Gorge. It's a way for people to get to the Hood River Valley, to get to the mountains, either Mount Adams or Mount Hood. So making sure that people have access is a huge thing for me.

I hope we’re able to build a bridge that's safe, reliable and cost effective, so it doesn't incur a ton of costs to the public. And I hope that, at the end of the day, that the public's proud of the bridge that gets built, that they view it with pride.

What I find really cool and interesting is that the Bridge Authority -- we're just people. We're not bureaucrats, we're not representatives from the state, or outsiders. We're all locals and it's all voluntary, you know, no one's being paid to be on this board. And I think that's a really cool thing where it's just passionate people trying to help our community.