With the Port of Hood River deciding to wait until next year to apply for federal funding to help pay for an environmental impact statement and design work for a new Interstate Bridge, now attention will turn to finding where a required 40 percent match will come from. Port Executive Director Michael McElwee says they would like help from the states of Oregon and Washington to avoid going out for a loan to finance it, noting borrowing for this reduce the capacity they will have to borrow to do repairs on the current bridge. The Port’s plan is to apply for the EIS/design funding next year, with the goal to apply for the actual bridge project before the recently passed five-year transportation package that includes monies for projects in rural areas comes to a conclusion.