VANCOUVER, Wash. — Despite being less than a year away from the planned start of construction, the Interstate Bridge Replacement (IBR) project still hasn't landed on a final answer to two key design questions: how tall the new bridge will be and whether it will include a "moveable span" — a lifting section like the one on the current bridge.

Both issues hinge on an upcoming decision from the U.S. Coast Guard. IBR recently submitted an updated "Navigation Impact Report" to the agency, outlining a series of mitigation agreements that the project team says it's reached with the handful of river users who would be impacted by the team's preferred design: a 116-foot-tall "fixed span" with no drawbridge.

"Movable spans are notoriously expensive and notoriously difficult to manage. You have b

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