Letter: Oak Harbor council right to prioritize bridge
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, January 14, 2026
Editor,
It was encouraging to see the recent unanimous approval by the Oak Harbor City Council on Dec. 2 to place the Deception Pass Bridge and waterlines on the list of 2026 legislative priorities. Sixteen years ago, the City Council likewise declared the bridge a legislative priority, with the intent of initiating the long path to replacement that went nowhere. At that time, high level regional stake holders like the Commanding Officer for NASWI, Capt. Gerral David and Mayor Slowik recognized vulnerabilities of a bridge approaching it’s end of life in the face of an unreliable (then and now) ferry system, as reported in an Aug 17, 2010, Whidbey News Times article.
Fast forward, to 2026, the hope of a new bridge seems impossible against the backdrop of maintenance starved bridges by the hundreds such as the now derelict Fairfax/Carbon River bridge, serving the community of Wilkerson, currently the subject of emergency in-process legislation for funding, (House Bill 2149) introduced, Dec 16. On Dec 19, Governor Ferguson announced a proposed $1.1 billion in supplemental funding to address other structurally challenged Washington bridges with a poor rating. The competition for these funds will be fierce.
According to State Bridge Engineer, Evan Grimm, the Deception Pass Bridge is on a likely path to a poor rating. The inconsistent quality of the $25 million painting project of 2021 and other documented bridge deviations will only accelerate the decay trajectory. Perhaps of greater concern, are the structural seismic vulnerabilities of the bridge outlined in a suppressed WSDOT study conducted in 2019. According to the most recent periodic bridge inspection conducted February 2025, sustainability of the bridge during a seismic event is dependent on application of the structural retrofitting outlined in the report, yet there are no plans on the horizon to apply the critical modifications needed andlargely unknown to the public until recently.
In 2010, the former Chairwomen of the WA Transportation Committee, Sen Mary Margaret Haugen stated a plan should be in place to rehabilitate or replace the bridge and cautioned groups like the Island County Regional Transportation Planning Organization, Navy and community at large, needed to get their act together to make it a priority.
Where our bridge is concerned, WSDOT representatives and legislators alike in recent years, have generally failed to represent the best interests of Island County. The torch lighting the path to bridge sustainability dropped in 2010 has apparently been resurrected by the Oak Harbor City Council, time will tell if this results in the vital changes called for 16 years ago.
Robert Sweeton
Oak Harbor
