This op-ed was originally published by the Oregonian/OregonLive on June 4, 2023.
By Indi Namkoong, Brett Morgan and Zachary Lauritzen
Namkoong is transportation justice coordinator for Verde. Morgan is transportation policy manager for 1000 Friends of Oregon. Lauritzen is interim executive director for Oregon Walks. All three are members of the Just Crossing Alliance.
Oregon has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to leverage federal infrastructure funding to envision and deliver an I-5 bridge replacement project that reflects the community’s priorities –but that opportunity is in jeopardy.
A new bridge over the Columbia River can provide transportation options that are safer, more convenient, more affordable and better for our air and our climate. It can serve as the centerpiece of expanded public transit and bike/walk networks that can help North Portland neighborhoods thrive while still allowing cars and freight to move across the river safely.
Unfortunately, after discussing this bridge for more than a decade, Oregon must now scramble to take advantage of federal dollars before time runs out. The failure of the Oregon Legislature’s Joint Transportation Committee to move a bill forward and the ongoing walkout by Senate Republicans are jeopardizing this opportunity.
Action is urgent. Washington state has appropriated $250 million of the $1 billion it has pledged to the project. Oregon’s Joint Committee on Transportation has been meeting for months with multiple hearings and hours of public comments to inform Oregon’s approach on funding, labor policies and other guidelines for building the bridge. But at the committee’s final meeting of the session, the bill to fund the bridge never even came up for a vote. To our dismay, the bridge bill suddenly died.
Any chance for funding the I-5 bridge this session now relies on its inclusion in a broader budget bill. But with the Senate Republicans’ ongoing walkout, this path is uncertain at best.
As we hope for a breakthrough, we must focus on the core elements that a bridge funding proposal should include. With recent forecasts projecting Oregon will have $1.9 billion more than expected to spend in the coming biennium, legislators should immediately appropriate $250 million – matching Washington’s appropriation to date—so the project can compete for federal transit grants.
We also must ensure fiscal guardrails remain in place. These include requiring the state treasurer’s office to independently approve the finance plan and requiring explicit Coast Guard approval for the bridge’s design before taking on debt for the project. These longstanding safeguards should be non-negotiable due to the state transportation department’s 20-year history of cost overruns on highway and bridge projects. They will also help ensure that Oregonians aren’t paying disproportionately for the benefit of car commuters from Clark County, who will be the primary users of this bridge.
Most of all, we need this bridge project right-sized, right now. To us, that means limiting the size and scope of this project to a simple bridge replacement – not one that adds more lanes. The project should expand transit to create frequent and accessible options, create safe walking and biking routes and provide safe vehicle travel without costly highway expansions that will create more congestion and harm the health, livability and growth of local communities in North Portland and Hayden Island.
Right-sizing means completing the project in phases so we can ensure that transit expansion and seismic upgrades are built first, while additional elements like highway interchanges can progress as more funding becomes available.
Every general fund dollar used for this bridge is a dollar that’s unavailable for critical needs like housing, health care and education. Right-sizing also means minimizing impacts to the general fund and directing those dollars to elements like transit that cannot be funded with gas taxes.
These things are within reach if we take steps this session to ensure the I-5 bridge replacement can still move forward in the absence of a policy bill. This bridge can be a transformational connection for our region, but we need legislators to flesh out a budget proposal and Senate Republicans must return to finish the job. Otherwise, we risk losing out on billions in federal funds. Allocating $250 million in funding to secure federal transit grants is the right next step toward building the right-sized bridge replacement we deserve.