...Public hearing on I-5 Bridge options Jan. 22
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and reduce congestion, on-ramps and
off-ramps would be widened and
lengthened at six interchanges: SR 500,
Mill Plain Boulevard, SR 14, Hayden
Island, Marine Drive, and Columbia
Boulevard.
It would be the biggest Portland-
area public construction project in a
generation. Early estimates say the
project would take five years to con-
struct and would cost $3.1 to $4.2 bil-
lion.
State transportation planners are
hoping the federal government will
pick up 60 percent or more of the total
cost, with the remainder to come from
state and local government budgets,
and revenues from a high-tech toll sys-
tem. Union officials say, realistically,
the federal government likely will pick
up between 25 to 30 percent of the cost.
While the project’s price tag is enor-
mous, federal, state and local leaders
say that doing nothing is an unaccept-
able option.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary
Peters, U.S. Deputy Transportation
Secretary Thomas Barrett and Federal
Highway Administrator J. Richard
Capka toured the I-5 Bridge and the
area surrounding it last year.
“Something obviously needs to be
done. It is important to get the new
bridge built,” Peters said during her
visit in October.
Columbia River Crossing staff have
shown a preference for a replacement
bridge with light rail, but the task force
hasn’t ruled out several other alterna-
tives. Two proposals would keep the
existing bridge and build a smaller new
bridge as a supplement. That might
save $170 million to $590 million in
I-5 Bridge can’t handle traffic
The existing I-5 bridge actually consists of two side-by-side three-lane
bridges, completed in 1917 and 1958. They’re just too small to handle the ex-
isting demand — 135,000 vehicles a day, a number which includes 10,000 to
30,000 trucks. On weekdays, traffic congestion — defined as traffic moving 30
miles per hour or less — averages six hours a day.
On- and off- ramps in the project area are shorter than usual, and the bridge’s
11-foot-wide lanes are a foot smaller than standard. As a result, accidents along
the five-mile stretch are twice as frequent as on comparable stretches of high-
way. And because it has no safety shoulders, accidents on the bridge back up
traffic for up to an hour. The bridge is also too low for tug boats to pass when the
river level is high, so a lift span in the center must be raised an average of once
a day for river traffic. The lift span takes 10 minutes to go up and down, and it
too can lead to hour-long traffic backups.
All told, the five-mile span between State Route 500 in Vancouver and Co-
lumbia Boulevard in Portland is the worst congestion bottleneck of any stretch
on I-5 — a 1,381-mile-long highway that runs from the Canadian border to Ti-
juana. Congestion has a major impact on commuters, and makes freight com-
merce more costly; regionwide, trucking companies time the shipment of goods
to avoid being on I-5 in Portland during rush hour.
Lastly, the existing bridge is not up to modern seismic standards, and would
likely collapse in the event of a major earthquake. The eastern span — the one
built in 1917 that now carries north-bound traffic — is held in the river by 60-
foot wooden pilings made of Douglas fir.
Q
Quest
Investment
Management, Inc.
the short run, but wouldn’t solve many
of the problems of the old bridge, and
would make maritime shipping more
hazardous. And one proposal would in-
clude the new bridge but have a dedi-
cated lane for buses rather than light
rail.
Vancouver Mayor Royce Pollard
and Oregon Congressman Earl Blume-
nauer have said they oppose any option
that doesn’t include light rail.
Finally, some members of the public
oppose any bridge improvement at all,
arguing that reducing congestion will
make it easier to drive, which is bad for
the environment.
Local building trades union officials,
however, are solidly in support of the
new bridge with light rail alternative.
The project would require payment
of prevailing wage rates, leaving union-
signatory contractors in a good posi-
tion to bid on the work. Thus the project
would mean years of employment for
hundreds of union building trades
workers in Oregon and Southwest
Washington.
Dave Tischer, business manager for
Laborers Local 320 and a member of
the task force representing the Colum-
bia Pacific Building Trades Council, is
encouraging union members — espe-
cially those whose commute takes them
across the Interstate Bridge — to come
out to the task force’s Jan. 22 public
meeting to show support for the proj-
ect. At the meeting, which takes place
from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Vancouver
Hilton, task force members will also
hear a presentation about tolling.
Tolls paid for both phases of the ex-
isting bridge. The first toll, five cents,
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was levied from 1917 to 1929. The sec-
ond, 20 cents for cars and more for
trucks, was levied from 1960 to 1966.
It’s not clear how much the toll would
have to be now, but it will be more than
20 cents. Fortunately, new electronic
tolling technologies exist that would
enable drivers to pay a toll without
slowing or stopping.
The Columbia River Crossing Task
Force is expected to finalize its recom-
mendation by August, at which point
WSDOT, ODOT, and local govern-
ments and transit agencies will have a
chance to formally endorse the project,
which would then seek federal funding
from several sources. Contracts could
go out for bid as early as late 2009, and
construction could begin as early as
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