Hermiston City Council to consider agreement for Umatilla River Bridge Crossing

HERMISTON – The Hermiston City Council meets at 7 p.m. today (Monday) and the council is expected to move a little closer to making the proposed Umatilla River Bridge Crossing a reality.

It will consider an intergovernmental agreement with the city of Umatilla and Umatilla County to for the planning, coordinating, and pursuing federal grant funding for the bridge at Punkin Center.

Hermiston leaders included additional bridge crossings of the Umatilla River in its Transportation System Plan in the 1990s. The three partners commissioned a preliminary engineering report and that 413-page report is posted on the city council’s agenda. The study prompted the partners to agree that the best location for the span is the Punkin Center option.

According to the staff report, the partners are taking the next step in applying to the federal government for a planning grant to cover the cost of the actual design to result in a 30 percent design.

“Having a 30 percent design will establish much more detail that will then allow decision makers the ability to make future determinations about moving forward, and sets this project up to realistically compete for state and federal grant funding for actual construction at some point in the future,” the staff report states.

In 2022, the estimated cost for the bridge at Punkin Center and associated roadway improvements was approximately $44 million. The intergovernmental agreement does not bind any of the partners to any costs associated with eventual construction.

The meeting is in council chambers of Hermiston City Hall and is also streamed on the city’s YouTube channel.

---

• 
• 
• 

---

• 
• 
• 
• 

---

Elkhorn Media Group