Oregon-Washington bridge cost jumps to $14 billion

Replacement of the bridge linking Oregon and Washington and carrying the I-5 highway could now cost as much as $14 billion. The project is much needed as the existing bridge is no longer able to cope with traffic demands. There are also concerns over the safety of the structure in the event of a possible earthquake.

One of the steel truss bridges in use at present dates back over 100 years, having been opened to traffic in 1917. The parallel bridge was opened to traffic in 1958. The existing bridges carry three lanes of traffic in either direction, handling around 140,000 vehicles/day but no longer meet current safety requirements.

Construction for the new bridge is now scheduled to commence in 2028. However, the project to replace the bridge that links Vancouver in Washington State with Portland in Oregon is now vastly more expensive than had ever been expected when the work was first proposed.

The work to plan the project is being carried out jointly by the Washington State Department of Transportation and the Oregon Department of Transportation. The US Department of Transportation has had extensive input into the project.