The project to replace the aging Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River has another advisory group within its planning structure, with the newest addition focused on how the project benefit the surrounding communities.
On Sept. 27, the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program hosted the first meeting of its “community benefits advisory group.” The group comprises more than a dozen representatives representing Portland and Vancouver governments, as well as regional workforce groups and associations representing BIPOC communities, among others.
The group’s goals are to “develop recommendations for community benefit efforts to achieve the greatest positive benefit to the communities in the program area and broader region from the program’s work,” according to the bridge replacement project’s website.
With the addition of the community benefits advisory group, four groups now provide direction to the bridge replacement program.
“The charter of this group is very focused on how we can leverage investment to make this fit into the context that the community wants to see,” Bridge replacement project administrator Greg Johnson said.
Those benefits could come in a number of forms, including construction mitigation impacts; development of public spaces like parks, trails and community centers; public art; and affordable housing development support, according to the project staff’s presentation. Other benefits could be local street improvements, setting climate goals and mitigating impacts to pedestrians and cyclists.
The group’s goal is to determine what those benefits will be. Its work will play out in a series of monthly meetings, with the first set of finalized recommendations set for January. That falls in line with the project’s major focus currently, that of a federal environmental review it needs to complete before any construction can begin.
Most of the meeting involved project staff setting up the group’s goals in the following months. The staff also provided a general update for the likely $6 billion project, including finances and economic impacts.
Project staff anticipates total gross economic activity generated by the project will be $11.6 billion, with total gross employment at more than 43,000 in terms of jobs per year over the project duration. Assistant program administrator Frank Green noted this provides its own benefit outside of what the group is tasked to identify.
“This program has the opportunity to really make a strong, positive benefit to the community here when it comes to jobs directly as part of this program,” Green said.
Currently the project is looking to break ground in late 2025. Johnson said maintaining the schedule is important to keeping down the cost. He said a year delay could cost the project $300 million more.
The project head also addressed the nature of the project, which he said was not “a freeway expansion.” Adding more capacity for car and truck traffic has been a stumping point for members of Southwest Washington local and state governments.
Although the project has planned to add auxiliary lanes to make interchanges more streamlined, “we are not adding through-lane capacity on this project,” Johnson said.
Johnson took an aside during the meeting to address the idea of building a tunnel instead of a bridge. He said project staff has spent time looking into the alternative, including correcting an oversight on the cost of excavation.
“To build a tunnel would be almost twice as expensive as building a bridge, and you still don’t solve a number of problems,” Johnson said.
