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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 2015)
7A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2015 Bridge: It serves about 7,200 drivers per day State seeks criminal Continued from Page 1A rested him and brought him back to Oregon since the vi- olation had technically hap- pened in Oregon. Still, the driver’s lawyers would later successfully argue that the officer should have taken the driver to a Washington court for a hearing on the lawfulness of the arrest. Then the case went to the Oregon Court of Appeals where the officer’s decision was upheld. In an Oregonian arti- cle about the case, Clatsop County District Attorney Josh Marquis said, “It’s a very common problem here because there is no safe place to pull someone over, and the other side of the bridge is a very rural area that doesn’t always have an officer or state trooper near- by.” Meanwhile, cars heading north toward Washington and cresting the top of the main span got sudden, star- tling glimpses of oncoming cars in their lane. There were no accidents or even near misses. At that particular spot in the bridge, few cars have reached the full 55 mph speed limit al- lowed. Cars in both lanes are climbing hills and this slows them down. Still, what would be rou- tine on any other road is im- mediately complex when it happens on the bridge. Dangerous driving With growing economic links between the Washing- ton and Oregon coasts, a bridge that initially served only a few hundred drivers per day now carries an aver- age of 7,200. While serious wrecks were quite unusual in the first decades of its existence, greater traffic volumes — especially in tourist season — have made for some memorably awful accidents in recent years. Last August, the bridge served about 9,800 vehicles per day, compared to about 5,500 in January. Troopers from both states patrol the bridge, though it is rare to see them and even rarer to see them stop some- one on the bridge itself. “A lot of the time, you’re creating more of a hazard to try to stop people on the bridge,” said Lt. Andrew Merila of the Oregon State Police, who works out of an OSP office in Astoria. “We do make trips back and forth,” he said. But most of these happen at night. “During the day, even just to drive across and come back, a lot of times with heavy traffic you can’t do any- thing,” he said. Astoria’s city limits stop in the middle of the shipping lane under the tall main span and OSP is the primary re- sponding agency for issues on the bridge. The ambu- lance company Medix has contracts on both sides of the bridge. Still, Astoria police are often the first respond- ers simply because they are already right there in down- town Astoria, whereas OSP troopers might be farther afield, patrolling U.S. High- way 30 toward Clatskanie or down on Highway 26 near Cannon Beach. The Wash- ington State Patrol office is in Naselle, 12 miles away. In the nearly 50 years since it was built and opened, Astoria police and OSP troopers alike have seen their fair share of prob- lems on the bridge: terrible crashes between family cars and log trucks, rollovers, high-speed chases, fend- er benders, head-on colli- sions, stalled cars, and even, in recent years, a car that flipped over the guardrail on bridge’s the long, low middle stretch. No one was injured in that particular ac- cident; the tide was out and the car landed safely on the shoal sands that are visible at low tide. The 4.2-mile-long Asto- Changing the bridge File photo This 2009 photo portrays some of the safety challenges of the Astoria Bridge. It has narrow shoulders and little margin for error when drivers follow too closely or wander from their lane. Increasing traffic volume, bad weather and impaired drivers are often factors in vehicular accidents on the bridge. ria Bridge is narrow. It has only two lanes and hardly any shoulder. There’s not enough room for a patrol car to easily turn around and nowhere to go for cars about to collide. There are only waist-high sides and the Co- lumbia River below. It’s the reason why even minor crashes on the bridge tend to be so ugly. A crash that kills or injures people can close the entire structure down for hours. In the tour- ist-heavy summer months, an accident on the bridge can back up traffic through all of downtown Astoria and into Washington as well, whose jurisdiction starts about half-way across the bridge’s northern low-rise span over the river’s lit- tle-used north channel. Last September, an acci- dent that resulted in minor injuries closed the bridge for most of the afternoon as emergency responders checked for spilled fuel on the roadway. Drivers on the Washington side who ar- rived later and saw the un- moving line of cars stretch- ing across the bridge, opted instead to wait at the Dismal Nitch rest area and watch events unfold through bin- oculars. Policing the bridge Though it is a danger- ous bridge to cross, cyclists are allowed on the narrow shoulders and, during the summer, are often seen crossing on touring bikes weighted down with loaded saddle bags. But try to cross the bridge on foot or park and step out of your car and any nearby police vehicle will respond immediately. Like San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, the As- toria Bridge has a history of suicide. In the last decade, a handful of people succeeded in what they set out to do. The bridge’s massive main span arches over a deep shipping channel and people who fling themselves over the side are quickly swept out to sea. Days or weeks later, the bodies may wash up on nearby beaches. On July 25, 2010, a tour- ist walking along the beach near Oregon’s South Jetty at Fort Stevens State Park saw a body in the surf. The Clat- sop County medical exam- iner later identified it as the body of a 39-year-old Ocean Park, Wash., man who had jumped from the Astoria Bridge a week before. High-speed pursuits are slightly more common, peo- ple weaving and speeding across the bridge trying to evade either Washington or Oregon law enforcement. Local police say they’ve en- countered people who (mis- takenly) think that if they are fleeing Oregon cops, they’ll be safe once they reach Washington and vice versa. Wrong. But it is compli- cated. An Oregon officer can witness a driver weaving back and forth across the bridge on the Oregon side, ignoring traffic rules and en- dangering other drivers. The Oregon officer can stop that driver in Washington and if the driver refuses to go back to Oregon, the officer can call in Washington officers to respond and arrest the driver. But, in that case, the driver risks facing charges in two different states. “In my experience people want to go back to Oregon because they don’t want to get charged in both states,” Merila said. In 2001, an Astoria police officer stopped a man for speeding on the bridge. The officer pulled the man over on the Washington side, ar- LOWER COLUMBIA BOWL Bow ling Parties... because bow ling is just fun!! 503-325-3321 Co s mic Bowl F ri d a y & Sa tu rd a ys 9:30 to m id n ight Ch e ck o u t o u r w e b site at- lcbow l.com 10 AM - 10:30 PM M O N -TH 10 AM - 12:00 AM FRI - SAT 12 PM - 10:30 PM SU N DAY After occasional terrible accidents, there is usual- ly some grumbling in lo- cal communities about the width of the bridge or the speed limit on the bridge. Neither will be changing anytime soon. It would be prohibitive- ly expensive to widen the bridge as well as a massive undertaking. The current renovation work alone on the bridge is expected to continue into 2021 and, as of last September, has al- ready cost more than $17 million. “Speed limits we always monitor,” said Lou Torres with ODOT’s communica- tion department in an inter- view in November. ODOT looks at what roughly 85 percent of drivers are doing and uses that number to help set speed limits. For the bridge, “We have not seen a reason for having to change the speed limit at all,” he said. “Right now I think we have the right speed limit … now if you’re going to lower the speed limit and enforce it, that’s a different story.” County and city govern- ments have not asked ODOT to reconsider the speed limit set on the bridge. investigation of Kitzhaber email leak sure” to Willamette Week occurred before the emails had been reviewed for con- ¿GHQWLDOLQIRUPDWLRQ SALEM — A state Among the records agency has asked the Or- quoted in Willamette Week egon State Police to in- was a memo to Kitzhaber vestigate the disclosure titled “Cylvia Game Plan: of some of former Gov. Dec. 2013-Dec. 2018.” It John Kitzhaber’s personal outlined ways for her to emails to a reporter. take a more active role in Two workers from the Kitzhaber’s administra- state data center, which tion and position herself to handles a wide variety of “land lucrative work mak- technology functions for ing big positive impacts at most state agencies includ- end of term.” ing the archival of emails, The newspaper also have also been placed on quoted emails outlining paid leave pending an in- Kitzhaber’s legal strategy ternal investigation. during an investigation by Michael Jordan, direc- the Oregon Government tor of the Department of Ethics Commission. Administrative Services, “Bottom line, this requested the state police comes down to trust,” investigation last week Jordan wrote in his email after a story published in to data center employ- Willamette Week quoted ees. “Trust in our ability from Kitzhaber’s private to securely store sensi- emails. They included tive information; trust in emails between Kitzhaber our process to determine DQG KLV ¿DQFpH &\OYLD what information is pub- Hayes, as well as between lic; trust that we can work the then-governor and a with agencies to strike lawyer representing him the appropriate balance before the state ethics between security and commission. transparency. The recent A spokesman for the breach has upset that bal- agency, Matt Shelby, ance. We’re working now would not say why the to restore it.” two data center employees Kitzhaber used at least were placed on leave or two private email accounts whether it was related to while he was governor. A the Willamette Week story. Gmail account was used Kitzhaber resigned last primarily for state busi- week following a series of ness, an AT&T account for reports about Hayes’ work personal matters. Emails for advocacy groups with from both accounts were an interest in Oregon pub- automatically archived on lic policy. He’s maintained state servers. the couple did nothing Before he resigned, wrong. a representative for Oregon law generally Kitzhaber asked that the requires public disclosure emails from the AT&T of government records, but account be removed from certain records considered state servers. Technicians SULYDWH RU FRQ¿GHQWLDO DUH balked. Jordan said in his exempt from release. In an note to data center workers email last week to staff at that “Kitzhaber’s emails the data center, Jordan said have been secured in their the “clandestine disclo- entirety.” By JONATHAN J. COOPER The Associated Press UNIONTOWN HONORS OUR HEROS U n ion tow n A ssociation , In c. d isplays A m erican flags from th e rou n d abou t to 3rd St. on all n ation al h olid ays an d local festivals. Thank you to the following people who helped keep the flags flying in Uniontown: Name of Donor Person to Honor Bernie Bjork..................................................Col. Delbert L. Bjork Ruth Hope....................................................Grover Utzinger Liz Banholzer................................................John A. Banholzer & LaVerne Paynter Bruce & Suzie Conner....................................Kevin Conner Michael Simmons..........................................William Jalonen-John & Evelyn Palmrose, James & Florence Simmons Cyndi Haggren Cahill....................................Chip Cahill Charles Hoell, Jr............................................Arne Jylha Mary Todd....................................................Richard Todd Jo Ann Dawley..............................................John Dawley & Juli Dawley Tom & Carol Tramontina..............................Reno Tramontina Darla Salo.....................................................”Lolly” Rytsala June Spence.................................................. George Fulton-June Spence Helen Mack...................................................John Fransen Cheryl Malinen ..............................................Bruce Morgan Joyce Bondietti ..............................................Carl Bondietti Julie Kearney................................................. Evelyn & John Palmrose Astoria Mini Mart...........................................Larry Kotila Donna Gustafson...........................................Grover Utzinger, Gustafson boys (father & son), Anna & Don Mitchell, Ruth & Donna D on a tion s for fla gs, beca use they love to see fla gs flyin g in U n ion tow n : Ron & Charlene Larson Ruth Hope Bob Reiter Margaret Chopping Bruce & Kristiana Berney Bridgewater Bistro Jim Jarvis Jerry & Marilyn Gustafson Karen Van Cleave Dave & Carolyn Brooks George Siverson