The project to replace the aging Interstate 5 Bridge over the Columbia River is in its environmental review phase, with an updated cost estimate for the project expected by the end of the year.
During its Oct. 31 meeting, the Joint Oregon-Washington Legislative Action Committee heard from staff of the Interstate Bridge Replacement Project. Earlier this year, eight partner agencies for the project endorsed the “locally preferred alternative,” a milestone in the program’s development.
Now the program is focused on developing a supplemental environmental review, which will be completed due to policy in the National Environmental Policy Act of 1970. The supplemental review will look at impacts and benefits for the project, and specific mitigation for unavoidable adverse impacts, IBRP Environmental Manager Chris Regan said.
The review centers on more than two dozen focus areas, including environmental impacts on air quality, archaeology, energy, hazardous materials, aesthetics and climate, among others.
A prior bridge replacement project already went through an environmental review conducted during the failed Columbia River Crossing (CRC) from a decade ago. IBRP Assistant Program Administrator Frank Green said current work is “somewhere in the middle” of doing the environmental review, between scrapping everything or moving forward with no new work.
“We didn’t think that we could just go with what we had before,” Regan added.
The review will be published and noticed ahead of a public comment period in the summer of 2023. Regan said the program’s goal is to have the final review and a federal record of decision by summer of 2024.
Regan listed a number of other regulatory milestones, which will start in 2024. They include getting required permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Coast Guard by late 2025 to early 2026.
With construction tentatively scheduled to begin by 2026, Regan addressed why those permits would not come sooner. He said the program “isn’t going to wait until the very end and make applications,” and has already had dialogue with both the Corps and Coast Guard.
Sen. Lynda Wilson, R-Vancouver, touched on a discrepancy with the program’s currently-identified bridge height and what the Coast Guard indicated it wanted. The IBRP is currently following the 116-foot clearance over the river previously permitted in the CRC. Earlier this year, however, the Coast Guard told the program it needed to be higher, to the maximum 178-foot clearance the current spans have.
“I can’t imagine what would happen if they came in and said ‘sorry, we said you need 178 feet,’” Wilson said.
Fellow assistant program administrator Ray Mabey stressed the Coast Guard previously permitted a bridge replacement for 116 feet, adding previous work showed there hasn’t been much of a change in water traffic compared to the CRC.
Project funding
The meeting also addressed funding. A major update on how much the project will cost is expected at the committee’s next meeting on Dec. 12.
That estimate is currently in development and will be based on the locally preferred alternative and current economic factors, Green said. In 2020, and based on information from the CRC, the project was estimated to cost between $3.2 and $4.8 billion.
Green said the program will go through a validation process for the estimate. That process included a recent workshop that brought in subject matter experts to identify risks or opportunities, he said.
“We really look at kind of an exhaustive list of those identified risks so that we have a good understanding of some of those areas where the program needs to maybe focus some design effort,” Green said.
The new estimate will set the foundation for a full financial plan update in early 2023, Green said.
As to how to fund that, the program has identified federal grant opportunities alongside state commitments. The IBRP has already received a $1 million planning grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bridge Investment Program, and has submitted a joint construction grant application with both WSDOT and ODOT for $750 million.
The program has also submitted a letter of interest for USDOT’s Mega Project Program and is seeking funding through the Federal Transit Authority Capital Investment Grants Program, Mabey added. Out of all the grants, the project has the potential to net $2.5 billion, Green said. The way the grants were designed seemed to fit the bridge replacement well.
“It does seem that they are well-suited for a program of our size and attributes,” Mabey said.
He noted those opportunities were competitive and there was limited time to apply.
The program is also seeking $1 billion each from Washington and Oregon state governments. Earlier this year, the Washington State Legislature committed to that funding, and the program hopes to receive a similar commitment from Oregon lawmakers during the 2023 session. Mabey noted those state funds are necessary in order to match federal grants.
A third component is “variable rate tolling,” something included in the locally preferred alternative. Oregon was chosen as the tolling administrator based on having a uniform operation in the project area.
Mabey said that doesn’t mean Oregon will solely set policy, which would be determined by both states.
Questions on whether the tolling would fund more than initial construction remain, though the infrastructure for tolling would likely not be temporary.
“Typically when you toll for a facility, you do want to ensure that facility is tollable long-term,” Green said.
He said there would have to be an agreement between the states on what would be covered for operations and maintenance.
County council adopts resolution against tolling on I-5, I-205 corridors
Although the Clark County Council acknowledges that tolling will be a part of the bridge replacement, the council unanimously approved a resolution in opposition of tolling the greater corridors for I-5 and Interstate 205.
Oregon has been developing a tolling structure on parts of the interstates that run through the Portland metro area. The council has spent the past few weeks creating a resolution to show they are against the proposal. They approved the final version of the resolution during their Nov. 1 meeting.
“The proposed tolling will have a negative impact on those who cannot vary their work hours and those who are wage employees and least able to pay for the use of their roads which tax dollars have already paid for,” councilor Gary Medvigy stated in a news release.
The resolution notes the current high-level planning for the bridge replacement involves a variable-rate toll. It states those tolls should be only considered for the replacement’s construction and should “sunset” at sometime, the release states.
“The Clark County residents who cross the bridge for work pay taxes to the state of Oregon,” council chair Karen Bowerman stated in the release. “When we think about the additional funds from tolls that would be collected in multiple places in order to accommodate their commute — it is good reason for this council to take a negative position on that tolling.”
Though local governments including the city of Vancouver are among the eight regional partners for the program, the Clark County Council is not. Medvigy acknowledged this in a previous meeting.
“We don’t legislate. We don’t even have a seat at the table on this issue,” he said.
