On Friday, July 12, Washington Third District Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez announced the Interstate Bridge Replacement (IBR) Program will receive $1.499 billion in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bridge Investment Program. The secured grant will allow IBR, the project lead, to hire a construction company once the new bridge is design-ready.
Last year, Glusenkamp Perez joined Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell in writing a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to secure additional program funding for the IBR, which already received a $600 million federal Mega grant last December following a long campaign to secure construction funds.
Earlier this year, Glusenkamp Perez spoke with Buttigieg and White House Infrastructure Implementation Coordinator Mitch Landrieu to explain the urgent need for government funding. Additionally, she and Oregon Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer led 17 bipartisan colleges to urge the House Appropriations Committee to secure federal funding in early May.
“When we brought $600 million home to replace the deteriorating, functionally obsolete I-5 Bridge last year, I promised to keep fighting tooth and nail for every federal dollar possible. It’s the only way we get this colossal undertaking done — as well as ensure we feel the benefits of our tax dollars and avoid tolling,” Glusenkamp Perez said in a news release. “Today, we’re bringing back more than $1.4 billion for this project that’s critical for strengthening our local economy, honoring the trades, and keeping drivers, commuters and truckers safe and on the move. I brought Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to the bridge to show him the dire need for replacement firsthand, as well as stressing the importance of this Bridge Investment Program grant whenever we spoke. We’re now one major step closer to getting the I-5 Bridge replaced and powering good, family-wage trades jobs in southwest Washington.”
In a news release celebrating the $1.499 billion award, Murray underlined the importance of the I-5 bridge replacement program. As Senate Appropriations chair, Murray took part in establishing the Bridge Investment Program and delivered funding through federal appropriations.
“The road to replacing the I-5 bridge has not been easy, but failing to replace this bridge has never been an option to me because I know how important this is to Southwest Washington—despite being a major thoroughfare, the current bridge is ancient, unsafe, and a major source of congestion for commuters and commerce,” Murray said in a news release.
Last week’s award is the third federal grant secured for the bridge replacement project. A $1 million seismic study grant was the first awarded for the project in October 2022. Since then, IBR has earned roughly $2.1 billion from the government. Last week, Cantwell said the replacement will improve traffic and safety of commuters. The northbound span of the bridge is over a century old, while the southbound bridge is over 65.
“Replacing the century-old I-5 bridge over the Columbia River will not only relieve local congestion but drive economic growth across the entire West Coast,” Cantwell said. “...The project can now start hiring the construction companies and workers that will boost the local economy and build this vital interstate artery and make a decades-long dream a reality.”
The new I-5 bridge is expected to lower maintenance costs compared with its current version. It costs $1.2 million annually to maintain, with costs expected to reach $280 million by 2040. The bridge also lacks a seismic retrofit, which is crucial in maintaining stability should a large earthquake occur.
Additionally, a highlighted goal of the I-5 replacement project is to reduce traffic. Last year, the American Transportation Research Institute rated the bridge the worst truck bottleneck in both Washington and Oregon and the fifth-worst on the West Coast. A study by the institute tracked seven to 10 hours of congestion during morning and evening hours. In 2021, the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council estimated that 65,000 Clark County residents cross the bridge to Oregon for work on a given weekday.
Traffic improvements are expected to support the transportation of goods significantly. IBR reported that $132 million of freight goods crossed the I-5 bridge daily in 2020. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics estimated that $97 billion in goods traveled to and from Washington by crossing the bridge in 2022.
