I-5 Expansion Over Columbia River Stumbles Forward with Federal Greenlight

As Sound Transit was dominating headlines this spring due to a budget-shortfall-triggered realignment of transit expansion plans across Puget Sound, another Pacific Northwest transportation megaproject was quietly marching forward. The bi-state Interstate Bridge Replacement (IBR), which will replace and widen I-5 for a five-mile stretch between North Portland and Vancouver while upgrading the aging set of bridges that span the Columbia River, continues to rack up approval milestones.

On July 1, the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) jointly issued an amended Record of Decision on the IBR, officially putting a cap on the project's federal environmental review requirements. A milestone that was quickly lauded by elected officials in both states, the announcement came after several votes across various layers of local government gave the IBR the go-ahead to proceed into its first funded phase.

That said, lawmakers remain well short of the full $13.5 to $15.2 billion needed to finish the entire corridor overhaul.

That first phase is set to include a new stretch of I-5 between Vancouver and Portland's Hayden Island, tolling infrastructure, eventual demolition of the existing bridges, and design work on an extension of TriMet's MAX Yellow light rail line into Washington State.





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