By JOHN BROOKS

A new Island County bridge in needed connecting Whidbey Island to Camano Island and on to Snohomish County. The new bridge would relieve some of the congestion at the Deception Pass Bridge and the ferry landing at Clinton. The bridge can bring fresh water from the Snohomish River to Central and South Whidbey and Camano. This bridge link puts the I-5 corridor within a 20-to-30 minute drive from both Freeland and Oak Harbor. It also more directly connects the Navy bases in Oak Harbor and the Everett area.

A combination of pier span and floating segment bridge could be used to connect Central Whidbey to I-5. Starting on the Whidbey side the bridge would be located somewhere south of Coupeville and north of Greenbank, to somewhere around Cama Beach north of the east/west portion of West Mountain View Road on Camano Island. The crossing would then go over to somewhere around Kala Park, and 140th street in Snohomish County. Not a straight line but close. This brings you to I-5 just north of the exit 203 at the Outlet Mall.

The WSDOT is getting ready to build the SR 520 floating segments in Grays Harbor, so the pontoons could be the same design, made in the same yard. The entire bridge design can be similar to SR 520 and use as many compatible components as possible. The Whidbey/Camano segment is not that deep so the pier span and floating sections can be similar to the existing designs for shallow crossings with a raised section for water borne vessel navigation. WSDOT has studies and traffic flow information that can be use for an estimate. They can also apply some of the existing design data developed for the SR 520 Lake Washington crossing and apply it to the Island County Floating Bridge.

Now we all know “nothing is free,” so this will end up as a toll bridge, like Tacoma Narrows. But in the long run the county can benefit from the water and maybe part of the revenue from the tolls. The central bridge location would finally connect Island County, reduce the response time for the sheriff, and make a business corridor connecting central Whidbey to north Marysville.

This makes better sense than a bridge from Strawberry Point on North Whidbey or replacing or widening the existing Deception Pass bridge. When driving to Seattle from Oak Harbor (with gasoline at $3 a gallon and an average of 30 mpg for cars) this bridge would save a driver around and hour and $5 in gas over the cost of driving today. From Freeland the savings over the “drive around” or ferry is even greater. Camano will benefit by having a second bridge and reduced congestion on SR 523 in Stanwood. The existing routes would be preserved and the added benefit of more available fresh water to both Camano and the south end of Whidbey benefits the entire county. A toll of $2 or $3 would pay for the bridge and not be an additional burden on county residents. In the long run a floating bridge is cheaper than the ferries, less costly to operate and more reliable.

I am not a bridge builder or a highway engineer, but a new bridge on the north end, in my opinion, does not fly. The latest improvements to SR 20 are still bottlenecked by a two-lane bridge and a solid mountain wall. I will agree that replacement of the existing Deception Pass Bridge would be good for Oak Harbor, probably cost as much as a bridge in the Central Whidbey location, but not benefit Camano or the rest of the county.

The Island County Floating Bridge would benefit everyone in Island County and make a direct connection with Snohomish County. It also provides a more direct route from I-5 to Port Townsend and the Olympic Peninsula via the new Coupeville ferry.

John Brooks lives at West Beach.