Last week, U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, and Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside, wrote a bipartisan letter to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy inviting him to tour the Interstate 5 Bridge to see firsthand why federal investments in the replacement effort are urgently needed.
Washington state Rep. John Ley, R-Vancouver, who serves the 18th Legislative District, issued a statement and wrote his own letter to Duffy, signed by Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, of the 20th District and Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen of the 19th District, on Feb. 10 stating current bridge proposals do not address residents’ biggest concerns, reducing traffic congestion and saving time.
“This is nothing more than an overpriced light rail project in search of a bridge. The $2 billion transit component is over one-quarter of the entire cost,” Ley stated. “... Additionally, the current proposal allocates 54 percent of the bridge surface to transit, bikes and pedestrians, and only 46 percent to freight haulers and general-purpose traffic. I'm not aware of any interstate freeway in the nation that focuses more on 'active transportation and transit' instead of cars and trucks.”
The effort by Congress members to invite Duffy to see the bridge first hand comes after Gluesenkamp Perez and bipartisan members of the regional congressional delegation helped secure $2.099 in federal funding for the project, including a $1.499 billion Bridge Investment Program (BIP) grant in July and a $600 million Mega grant in 2023.
Last year, Gluesenkamp Perez brought former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to visit the bridge and feel it shake as trucks passed by. They also spoke with students in the trades at the Cascadia Tech Academy in Vancouver, and held a roundtable discussion with local apprentices and tradespeople who will work on the bridge replacement project. In 2023, the congresswoman hosted then-White House Infrastructure Implementation Coordinator Mitch Landrieu for a visit to the bridge.
“We write to you with an urgent invitation to tour the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program, a critical effort to replace and modernize the aging Interstate 5 (I-5) Bridge, which connects Washington and Oregon over the Columbia River. During your confirmation hearing, we were pleased to hear your commitment to honoring the federal funding for projects like this,” wrote Gluesenkamp Perez and Newhouse, in their letter to Duffy. “Replacement of the I-5 bridge has become a necessity, and the values and priorities of all our citizens, rural and urban alike, must be reflected in its final adopted design. This replacement program will strengthen our local economy, honor the trades, and keep drivers, commuters, and truckers safe and on the move. Our Washington and Oregon Congressional Delegations have worked on a bipartisan basis to deliver critical federal funding to support this project, including securing $600 million in Mega grant funding and $1.499 billion from the Bridge Investment Program. As you review federal funding priorities, we urge you to come see and see the critical importance of federal investment in this project.”
The I-5 Bridge is a crucial linchpin in both the regional and national economy and plays a vital role in transporting freight along the I-5 corridor, stated the news release. Roughly $132 million worth of freight crossed the I-5 Bridge daily in 2020 and 131,747 vehicles crossed each weekday in 2021, the release by Gluesenkamp Perez’s office added.
“Portland has the nation's seventh-worst traffic congestion, and the project administrators admit that morning travel times will double by 2045,” Ley stated. “The southbound commute from Salmon Creek to the Fremont Bridge will take at least 60 minutes, up from 29 minutes today. That's unacceptable to the citizens of Southwest Washington.”
The I-5 Bridge is also rated the worst truck bottleneck in Washington and Oregon and the fifth-worst on the West Coast, the release states. The bridge experiences seven to 10 hours of traffic daily and a crash rate more than three times higher than Washington averages, “it is critical that the final project design effectively and economically addresses congestion for local drivers, commuters, and truckers,” her office stated in the release.
Despite the bridge’s economic importance, there are significant issues with its structural integrity, Gluesenkamp Perez’s office stated. One span of the bridge is 107 years old — and the bridge is built on wood piles in sandy soil, leaving it at serious risk for collapse in the event of a major Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake.
Last fall, Gluesenkamp Perez submitted her own public comment for the Interstate Bridge Replacement (IBR) project, expressing concerns about tolling proposals, and urged the IBR Program to prioritize Southwest Washington bridge users’ concerns in the final project design — both through the cost-effective use of resources to eliminate or limit tolling and increased vehicular capacity to reduce congestion, the release stated. The Congresswoman also held an I-5 Bridge replacement roundtable with local community, trades and small business leaders to discuss local bridge priorities.
In January, Gluesenkamp Perez helped bring home $30 million in federal funding to build a freeway lid over Interstate 5 to connect downtown Vancouver, the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site and surrounding neighborhoods as part of the Interstate Bridge Replacement project.
