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Portland Area Governments Unanimously Forward Carbon Intensive Infrastructure Plans

    For Immediate Release: 14 July 2022

    Media Contact: Anna Kahler, JCA Alliance Coordinator

    anna@justcrossing.org – 312-480-6128

    Portland OR / Vancouver WA: 

    This week, City of Portland Council, Port of Portland, and Metro regional government all approved the locally preferred alternative for the expansion of the I-5 corridor and bridge across the Columbia River. 

    “This is a missed opportunity for the region to make good on its climate goals, and hold the IBR team accountable for their lack of transparency and inability to provide decision makers with a viable financial plan or an analysis of the environmental impacts.” said Anna Kahler, a rep for the Just Crossing Alliance, a bi-state coalition coalescing to ensure a bridge replacement that is equitable, environmentally just and fiscally responsible. “ The IBR project team is repeating the mistakes of the CRC, dooming our region to an unjust, unsustainable and fiscally irresponsible massive bridge project. It is imperative that representatives hold ODOT and the IBR project team accountable to their promises. If the IBR project team and the DOTs refuse to learn from the blunders of the past, our local and state governments must.” 

    “It is concerning that the project is not taking the need for alternatives seriously.” Says Sara Wright of Oregon Environmental Council. “For example, the Coast Guard has authority over the permits for the project. If the design does not meet their navigational needs, that means starting over from scratch, wasting years of hard work and further delaying the project. The project team must consider other alternatives that could meet all jurisdictional requirements as an insurance policy so that we can stay on track toward an effective bridge replacement.”

    Rep Pham: 

    “As a legislator who will be asked to find new revenue for all of our new transportation infrastructure projects, we need to be able to fund both this bridge and other needed transportation projects in our region. By choosing a right-sized bridge, we can do both. Unfortunately, approving this LPA without a commitment to including a cheaper alternative in the EIS process binds our hands and increases risk for the project.”

    For more information, contact Anna Kahler at anna@justcrossing.org

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    Background context: 

    Metro Council voted today to endorse the Interstate Bridge decision proposed by the IBR project team as the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) before knowing the real cost of the bridge or seriously considering any other bridge alternatives. Six months ago the Metro Council asked ODOT to provide them with a Financial Plan, Health Impact Assessment, and an analysis of how to reduce VMT emissions for the bridge project and ODOT has failed to provide any viable cost estimate.  The LPA design is the most expensive, inflexible design choice and is not a phaseable alternative. Without the ability to build the project in phases, Oregon will have to provide all of the funds for the project all at once. This will cause Oregon’s infrastructure funds to be used up on one project, leaving close to nothing for the countless other important infrastructure projects that require funds. With this endorsement vote Metro counselors failed to prioritize the needs of our region and hold ODOT and the IBR project team accountable for their commitments. Our region desperately needs good jobs and new infrastructure, and the IBR project team is threatening our region’s ability to receive those by repeating the mistakes of the CRC. 

    The two DOTS have yet to present a financial plan showing how the bridge, estimated to cost as much as $5 billion, will be paid for.  Nor has it developed realistic cost estimates–and recent ODOT projects have ended up costing more than double their original estimates.  The cost of the I-205 Abernethy Bridge just doubled to half a billion dollars.   

    Local partners such as Portland Metro and the City of Portland held their endorsement votes directly following a report released by the Coast Guard which stated that they would require the bridge to be at least 178 feet tall in order to meet their navigational needs. The Coast Guard’s required height is 62 ft higher than the design that was approved by Metro Council, which was stated to have a height of 116 feet. At 116 feet and especially at 178 feet the bridge will be a monstrosity that will require massive elevated freeway sections across Hayden Island and Vancouver, and will create a bridge that is too high for use by pedestrians and cyclists, who will have to climb the equivalent of a 15 story building to cross the river. By voting to endorse the LPA, Metro is choosing not  to take the Coast Guard demand seriously or to acknowledge the risk of ignoring their clearance needs.  

    “It is concerning that the project is not taking the need for alternatives seriously.” Says Sara Wright of Oregon Environmental Council. “For example, the Coast Guard has authority over the permits for the project. If the design does not meet their navigational needs, that means starting over from scratch, wasting years of hard work and further delaying the project. The project team must consider other alternatives that could meet all jurisdictional requirements as an insurance policy so that we can stay on track toward an effective bridge replacement.”

    In more ways than one the IBR project team is repeating the mistakes of the CRC, dooming our region to an unjust, unsustainable and fiscally irresponsible massive bridge project. It is imperative that representatives hold ODOT and the IBR project team accountable to their promises. If the IBR project team and the DOTs refuse to learn from the blunders of the past, our local governments and representatives must. 

    By endorsing the proposed bridge design as the LPA, Metro failed to hold the IBR project team accountable to building a bridge project that meets the needs of our region.