A traffic jam on the Interstate 5 Bridge provided the perfect backdrop for Thursday’s celebration of the $1.499 billion federal grant dedicated to its future replacement.
On Aug. 8, local and federal officials gathered at Hayden Island to commemorate the historic grant, which was officially announced in July, as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America Tour. U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, along with District 3 Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, attended the event and highlighted the significance of the grant.
Murray used the early morning traffic as a prime example of the need to replace the aging Interstate 5 Bridge, an effort she has championed for years. Murray was instrumental in establishing the bipartisan Bridge Investment Program, which secured the $1.499 billion grant for the bridge’s construction. The new bridge design will feature auxiliary lanes to facilitate smoother merging and reduce traffic disruptions. According to the Interstate Bridge Replacement (IBR) team, an estimated $132 million of freight crossed the I-5 Bridge daily in 2020. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics estimated that $97 billion in goods traveled to and from Washington through the bridge in 2022 alone.
“I remember warning about predictions that peak congestion could hit 10 hours by 2020, [and] wouldn’t you know it? Here we are [with] seven to ten hours of slow-moving traffic during the morning and evening rush hours here,” Murray said.
The new bridge will expand the current 4-foot-wide shared-use path to accommodate modern standards, as well, providing more space for pedestrians and cyclists crossing the river. Sen. Maria Cantwell noted that Clark County has gained nearly 100,000 new residents since 2010 and added 40,000 new jobs, underscoring the urgent need to invest in infrastructure to support the region’s rapid growth.
“I’m telling people ‘you better start taking pictures of the bridge’ because it’s not gonna be around much longer,” Cantwell said. “...It’s not just about building the bridge, although it’s the key component. It’s about opportunities for new businesses. It’s about creating new hires. It’s about growth and prosperity.”
According to a press release, the route is also vital to international exporters; in 2021, nearly $2 billion worth of goods from California and $750 million worth of goods from Oregon were trucked to Canada via the I-5 corridor. According to the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council, an average of 131,747 vehicles crossed the bridge each weekday in 2021, including many of the 65,000 Clark County residents who work in Oregon, the press release stated.
Despite its importance, the bridge is rated “the worst truck bottleneck in Washington and Oregon and the fifth-worst on the West Coast, with seven to 10 hours of congestion during the morning and evening commute periods,” the release stated. The area’s current crash rate is over three times higher than statewide averages.
Local legislators are also concerned about the current bridge’s safety. Studies from the state of Oregon emphasize the risk posed by a potential 9.0 magnitude earthquake due to the region’s proximity to the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a massive 700-mile fault line.
District 3 Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez also highlighted the bridge’s maintenance costs, noting that $40,000 is spent annually to grease and maintain its cables. She met with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg at the bridge in February to discuss the importance of improving both its economic impact and safety features. Including the $1.499 billion grant for construction, the project has earned roughly $2.1 billion from the federal government. The estimated total cost of a new bridge is between $5 billion and $7.5 billion.
She said $2.1 billion is a lot of money, but it represents more than that.
“It is the manifestation of our values, of our sense of pride, of being the best tradespeople in the nation [and] in the world,” she said.
Some local politicians including Joe Kent, who is challenging Gluesenkamp Perez for her seat, oppose the plan due to its inclusion of light rail public transportation and tolls, which will pay for the rest of the project. IBR Program Administrator Greg Johnson estimates that $1.2 billion to $1.6 billion will need to be recovered through toll collection.
“I mean, polling is a regressive tax. There’s not a way around that, and my work is to ensure that we have the resources we need to build this bridge,” Gluesenkamp Perez said after the meeting. “Joe [Kent] says he’s not going to bring those dollars back. He wants to do it with no tools or wait for the bridge to collapse.”
To learn more about the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program, go to interstatebridge.org.
