The planners behind a proposed new Interstate Bridge now say a new span could cost as much as $2.7 billion more than previously expected.
Greg Johnson, the administrator of the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program, said Friday the new projected cost of between $5 billion and $7.5 billion can be attributed to “historically high inflation rates, workforce shortage, material cost increases due to supply chain issues and other market conditions.”
The new projected cost also takes into account a new design for the bridge, proposed by planners and endorsed by the eight local government boards involved with the project.
Planners previously estimated the bridge would cost up to $4.8 billion, but that estimate was based on the failed Columbia River Crossing project.
A new Interstate Bridge is considered a critical link between Oregon and Washington across the Columbia River. One span on the current bridge is 105 years old, and at risk for collapse in a major earthquake.
Questions of how to fund the replacement remain, even as the price has gone up.
Johnson said in a news release that bridge planners are pursuing between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion in federal grant funding and will pursue another $1 billion each from Oregon and Washington legislatures. Tolling is expected to bring in another $1.25 billion to $1.6 billion in revenue.
“Controlling costs for a mega project like the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program is a dynamic process, and we will continue to identify and refine possible funding sources,” Johnson said in the written statement.
But securing a portion of that money depends on a signoff from state lawmakers — some of whom are skeptical about the cost spike.
Rep. Khanh Pham, D-Portland, is a member of the bi-state legislative committee for the bridge replacement project. She said she’s asked for, and is still waiting for, a breakdown of the updated cost estimate. But she said previous estimates for the Columbia River Crossing, the bridge expansion project that was shelved in 2014, showed that about half the projected cost would go toward widening the highway on both sides of the river rather than the construction of the bridge itself.
Pham said she would like to see funds dedicated toward the bridge construction and the implementation of light rail across the bridge — one of the conditions legislators have agreed on for the new bridge.
She also said she’s concerned the rising cost of the bridge will take away from local projects, particularly those that make roads safer for pedestrians. A staggering 90 pedestrians died on Oregon roads last year, and 2022 numbers already have surpassed that.
“We as legislators have to be the fiscal stewards of our state, so we’ll be the ones making the decisions of how to come up with the $1 billion to fund this,” she said. “I think it’s important that we put forth a new guiding vision for our transportation, focusing on climate change and the epidemic of traffic deaths.