Interstate 5 Bridge Planned to Be Replaced by 2032

Portland, the city of bridges, may be seeing a significant, brand-new span in its waters within the next 10 years.

Planning is under way for the Interstate 5 Bridge, which is one of the two that cross the Columbia River to connect Portland with Vancouver, Washington, and its suburbs, to be completely replaced soon. Some estimates put the start of construction as soon as 2025, to be concluded around 2032.

The six-lane, twin-span drawbridge serves an important role in the local economy. It is part of the vital Interstate 5 highway and sees over 130,000 cars cross every day. However, the bridge is showing its age. Its northbound span opened on Valentine’s Day 1917, recently celebrating its 107th birthday (the matching southbound span was completed in 1958). But what may have been sufficient a century ago – or two-thirds of a century ago – has now become obsolete. The bridge faces numerous structural, design, and safety issues.

For one, it is a significant traffic bottleneck, regularly being congested with traffic for as many as 10 hours per day. Raising the bridge for passing water traffic causes further traffic backups. Alsok, the current spans are not seismically resilient and are greatly vulnerable to earthquakes. This fact is especially concerning because according to the Oregon Department of Emergency Management, there is a 37% chance a major earthquake will strike Oregon within the next 50 years.

For these reasons, the bi-state “Interstate Bridge Replacement Program” was launched in 2019 to bring new life to the crossing. In addition to addressing the structural flaws, it is hoped a new bridge can increase the availability of public transportation between the two cities. The project is still evaluating the potential methods to achieve this goal, including the idea of extending the MAX Yellow Line light rail to run across the bridge and into Washington. Currently, the Yellow Line ends at the Portland Expo Center, just shy of the Columbia River.

Naturally, one of the biggest concerns with the reconstruction is funding. Bridges are not cheap, with this project estimated to cost a steep $6 billion. Thus far, the federal government has committed “just” $600 million toward the replacement. However, leaders hope to secure $2.5 billion in federal funding they are applying for.

At the state level, Oregon and Washington legislatures have committed $1 billion each. Tolls on passing traffic are planned to make up the majority portion of the remaining costs, though none have been implemented thus far and likely will not be until spring in 2026, under current plans.

In return for the expenditures, the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program projects that the new bridge will generate $11.6 billion in “total gross regional economic activity” – in direct and indirect expenditures.

It is worth mentioning that the current proposal is not the first attempt at replacing the I-5 Bridge. The “Columbia River Crossing” project, launched in the late 1990s, also ventured to replace the twin spans. After years of slow progress, the project died out in 2013 after the Washington Legislature voted against continuing to fund it.

This time, government officials voice more confidence that the outcome will be different. “It clearly needs to be replaced,” asserted the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, discussing the bridge during a visit to Vancouver in February. “It’s going to happen,” he said.

Renders sourced from interstatebridge.org