Bridge Authority Commissioners

I'm Mike Fox. I'm the co-chair of the new Bridge Authority and I'm also a Port of Hood River Commissioner. I retired in 2017 after a 45-year career with a large engineering construction company. I'm an engineer by degree. I spent years with them, working very large projects all over the world.

When I retired in 2017, I was looking for something to occupy my time. I've got some small orchards, but I am not a farmer. I saw the need to replace the current bridge. So I ran for Port commissioner, and eventually was elected the second time around. I then got involved in the bi-state bridge working group, and I’ve been working hard trying to get us a new bridge.

I remember going across the bridge as a youngster. Through the years we would spend summers up here, picking fruit and helping out and whatnot. I then left for a number of years in my career, and I'd come back every once in a while, and I was amazed that the bridge was still here.

When I got back in 2017 and I looked into it a little bit, I was both amazed and frankly quite shocked that there really wasn't a plan to get that bridge replaced anytime soon. And I'm talking 10, 15, 20, 25 years, there was a lot of talk, but there wasn't an awful lot of real action being taken. So I thought it'd be kind of fun to get involved in that.

Replacing this bridge is an absolute highest priority for the region for a couple of reasons. One, it's old, it's degrading, it's degrading quicker now. It's almost a hundred years old. We’re spending lots of money to maintain it. It doesn't serve the community any longer. We're asking it to do things that it never was designed to do.

For example, putting two large trucks on the bridge at the same time, facing each other. We've had more than once where we've gotten two trucks stuck. Just take a look at the guardrails. They're all bent up. There's a reason for that. The bridge is too narrow. With the grating floor, anything that drops off the trucks or cars goes straight into the river. Environmentally, that's not good. So we've got an opportunity to fix that with a new bridge.

I want a new bridge in place by October 2029 that's open for business. And then about two years later, the plan is we will take down the old bridge, and I am absolutely focused on making all of that happen. We've gone from, “Well, maybe,” to, “You know, I think we can do this,” and “I know we can do it.”