Buttigieg: ‘This time I-5 Bridge will succeed’

Watch the full video interview with Secretary Pete Buttigieg at the bottom of this article

VANCOUVER, Wash. (KOIN) — Just one day before the I-5 Bridge turns 107, US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg toured the structure along with Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and other elected leaders.

The bridge is at a high risk of collapse in an earthquake and both governors urged the federal government to give them more than $2 billion to help replace it. Past requests were turned down, but with both states committing $1 billion each for a new bridge, it may convince Buttigieg to have the Department of Transportation write a check.

“I know this came heartbreakingly close to happening a decade ago. And it didn’t because some of those pieces fell apart,” he said. “This time it’s going to succeed.”

Recently the feds kicked in $600 million for preliminary work on a new bridge.

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Kotek believes this is going to happen. “The $600 million we’re celebrating with the secretary’s visit is a key piece of getting the bridge built. This is different from before. The way Oregon and Washington are working together, the way Vancouver and Portland are working together, the way our transit districts are working together — we have a viable financial plan with the help of the federal government to build the bridge that we need for the community.”

Oregon and Washington will likely find out if they’re in the money in the next few months. If so, there is hope construction could begin late next year.

Aircraft safety

Buttigieg understands airplane safety is a top concern after the door plug of an Alaska Airlines jet blew out at 16,000 feet minutes after taking off from Portland in January.

Buttigieg, in Vancouver Tuesday to tour the I-5 bridge, told KOIN 6 News flying is the safest way to travel in the United States. The last fatal commercial plane crash was 15 years ago.

“I’m pretty sure that in a couple hours I’m going to be sitting in an exit row in a Boeing aircraft,” he said. “So I have a personal stake in this and the whole country has a stake in this, which is to make sure that everytime someone steps on an aircraft they know they’re going to be kept safe.”

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The NTSB found the door plug that blew out was missing anchor bolts that had likely been removed during assembly and not re-installed. Alaska and United airlines found loose bolts on other 737 Max-9 planes while they were grounded for inspection.

“The administrators have been clear this cannot be back to business as usual at Boeing,” Buttigieg said. “The manufacturer is responsible for complying with every specification the FAA puts out covering half-a-million parts in those planes. And what’s being reviewed right now is not just Boeing’s practices and their suppliers practices, but also the structure for how we do this oversight.”

But federal regulators are looking at what needs to change when it comes to oversight of airplane makers — including whether there needs to be more independent inspectors.

“Congress could change the law but we can’t just do that without thinking it through,” Buttigieg said. “That’s why the administrator has correctly said everything should be on the table in terms of the division of labor between the regulator that is setting the standards and the manufacturer responsible for meeting those standards.”

Full interview with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is below

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