New Life for Oregon-Washington I-5 Bridge Replacement as Feds Award $1.5B

Portland, OR ranked 19th for the worst congestion, which costs the average Portland driver $679 and the city $665 million in 2023, according to the study.

A commute that can take 20 minutes or 2 hours, depending on the time of day, Portland’s I-5 N corridor from I-405 to the Washington State border was ranked among the busiest corridors with peak congestion at 4pm and the fifth worst on the West Coast.

The I-5 bridge is essential to the movement of freight along the I-5 corridor but is also susceptible to collapse during an earthquake.

To make it worse, nearly half a million people are expected to move to the Portland area by 2035, according to the Metro regional government.

This means the problem needs to be fixed soon and the federal government just helped finance a big chunk of the solutions.

How Oregon and Washington will try to solve the bridge bottleneck

The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) wants to build two megaprojects with price tags of:

1. $1.45 billion to expand I-5 at the Rose Quarter, triple what was proposed in 2017; and
2. $5 billion to $7.5 billion for the Interstate Bridge Replacement Project, up 56% from previous estimates

The U.S. Department of Transportation on Friday released $1.5 billion to help replace the Interstate 5 bridge, bringing current total federal investment in the project to $2.1 billion.

Oregon and Washington have also each pledged $1 billion in state funds.

For math nerds, this is over $4 billion for the $5-7 billion project, which includes miles of freeway work north and south of the bridge itself.

“This is fantastic news for the state of Oregon,” said Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek. “This infusion of federal funds will promote regional and national economic growth and support local jobs and broader workforce opportunities. Building this multimodal bridge also moves us closer to meeting our state, regional and national goals of reducing carbon emissions and curbing the effects of climate change.”

Lynn Peterson, the president of the Metro Council, a regional policymaking body, said the region’s investment of time and pledged dollars paid off with Friday’s award.

“The time is now to move forward on this critical project and replace the century-old drawbridge that currently links Portland and Vancouver,” Peterson said. “As we work to rebuild greater Portland’s economy, it’s investments like this that will pave the way for more jobs and growth in our region.”

Will this bridge project be stalled again?

Public backlash killed the last I-5 Bridge Replacement Plan.

The Columbia River Crossing (CRC) project – the previous iteration of what is now the Interstate Bridge Replacement (IBR) program – was launched in 2005.

The project was hit with public backlash due to concerns centered around plans to:

• toll drivers,
• the impact of construction on residents of Hayden Island,
• problems with planned bridge clearance for ship passage,
• the proposed MAX light rail expansion, and
• the environmental effects of widening I-5.

The CRC ultimately died in 2013 after years of turmoil.

Then there is the cost.

In 2020, IBR program leaders estimated the project would cost between $3.2 billion and $4.8 billion. By December 2022, the IBR released a new project price projection, estimating the bridge would cost between $5 and $7.5 billion to build.

Tolling drivers using the bridge is one likely source of revenue, though it’s unclear what the toll rate would be or how amenable people would be to paying it. According to the IBR program website, “tolls will be used for construction, maintenance, and operation of the facility, and to help improve travel reliability within the bridge corridor.”

If the project can raise a few more billion dollars, there is a chance that this project can finally start moving forward.

Here’s hoping!

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