The local transportation world is buzzing about the news uncovered by Joe Cortright and first published in the Willamette Week yesterday that the Interstate Bridge Replacement project’s estimated cost has doubled to about $13 billion. Not only that, but this new number was so politically toxic among project staff they intentionally hid it from lawmakers at a meeting last month.
I interviewed Cortright this morning to get his take on what it all means for the project. Watch the full interview in the player above or on the BikePortland YouTube channel.
Thanks for reading.
BikePortland has served this community with independent community journalism since 2005. We rely on subscriptions from readers like you to survive. Your financial support is vital in keeping this valuable resource alive and well.
Please subscribe today to strengthen and expand our work.
Thanks Joe and Jonathan! Nice to hear proof that’s it’s been a grift for the consultants/planners all along.
Way past time to start over with either a simple bridge with safe bike/pedestrian facilities (with cars sadly) only or start a fund to provide maintenance into perpetuity for the bridge that exists.
Depressing to hear the steel costs have actually gone down and concrete is roughly static while seemingly these are skyrocketing and justifying the increased costs.
Is the Rose Quarter similarly corrupt?
This does not instill confidence that ODOT can be trusted to provide any realistic budget information to Salem. Who knows how much ODOT needs to stay afloat?
Where does the buck stop??
My answer to your question – Is the Rose Quarter similarly corrupt” – is “NO”. The Rose Quarter project appears to be more corrupt than the IBRP.
What an absurd project this has become. Just completely mismanaged. Your question towards the end of the interview is something I’ve been wondering for a long time now. Why can’t we just consider a seismic retrofit of the existing bridge? Ultimately the safety and structural integrity of the bridge is the most important thing. No one (that I know) asked for a massive freeway widening project that is masquerading as a bridge replacement project. Even if a seismic retrofit of the existing bridge is complex and expensive, it would surely be way more affordable than this current abomination.
Please redirect this money to our public transportation system.
So what is the current cost estimate to bring old Bessie (the 1914 interstate bridges) up to current earthquake standards, rebuilding the foundations, etc?
What sucks is that we can’t trust the project team with questions like this… so who will run the estimate.
Kotek needs to clean house and get new leadership in place or we’re doomed to keep repeating these (very unsurprising to most astute observers) mistakes.
Yes, all ODOT management who had ANY part to play in either of these bridge project boondoggles needs to be getting into a different line of work at this point! We need to get some adults in the room to stop wasting our tax dollars on giveaways to consultants and contractors who are bad at math! Retrofit what is existing to make it safe, and start spending money on better transit and active transportation projects!
Is this a question you could ask the other side about? That is, Clark County and WaDOT? Half of each bridge is in their jurisdiction…
The existing bridges are fine. A few lifts per year aren’t a big deal, and the railroad bridge down stream is older than both bridges. If we really cared about economic impact in a large earthquake scenario, we should be working with BNSF to build a rail bridge that would survive the big one. If this bridge is severed, the next closest crossing is 100 miles away in Wishram.
In the meantime, how much has been spent on the project? Is this turning out to be the exact same project as the CRC? How much was the Francis Scott Key bridge collapse rebuild?
“Social media posts that get 9 likes” – This line had me legit laughing!
I will once again present my simple solution: toll the I5 bridge and raise the toll until traffic matches the bridge’s capacity. Probably need to toll the 205 bridge too. Then we can see if a new bridge can pay for itself.
This x 1000.
It is unfortunate that the IBRP folks had simply followed Joe Cortright’s lead on giving the public the facts instead of sales pitches. I totally agree with Joe in that Bike Portland is a huge asset for the community. Cortright’s City Observatory is also a huge asset. Thank you both.
This is one of those “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” moments that has gone on for years. It really shows how ODOT has had no real accountability. Looks as bad for the people tasked with overseeing ODOT as it does ODOT. The ORleg joint transportation committee among many others has been asleep at the wheel. Not to mention the many ODOT boosters like Lew Frederick, etc. There needs to be a radical restructuring of ODOT, but I’m afraid no one in Oregon knows how to handle this.
Should have built it 10 years ago.
Thanks for the excellent interview with Joe Cortwright. As an employee of a large engineering/planning firm during the first round of CRC (I was not personally involved with it), I remember how pleased management was to have a bunch of people from our office billing 40+ hours per week to the project for years. What a cash cow! Joe’s comment is spot on about the consultants having no incentive to get the job done if they can get one contract extension after another. The foxes have certainly been guarding the hen house.
The “abundance bro” in me is pissed that we can’t build shit. The “urbanist” in me is kinda glad this bloated boondoggle of a highway expansion has cratered again.
I don’t know which part of me is more correct, but I do know that none of this reflects well on Washington or Oregon.
So much money down the drain already.
Should it be illegal for ODOT to mislead lawmakers?
Does ODOT have a history of hurting Portland communities for the benefit of suburban motorists?