Exploding Costs Could Doom One of America’s Greatest Highway Boondoggles

POLL: With updated estimates reaching as high as $17.7 billion, what should happen to the I-5 Bridge replacement project?

A new poll asks readers how the I-5 Bridge replacement project should proceed amid higher cost estimates and questions about transparency within the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program.

Joe Cortright says massive new cost estimate means I-5 Bridge project is "dead"

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 …

Exploding Costs Could Doom One of America’s Greatest Highway Boondoggles

The Interstate Bridge Replacement Project and highway expansion between Oregon and Washington was already a boondoggle. Then the costs ballooned to $17.7 billion.

Critics: Interstate bridge staff hid information about ballooning cost of giant highway project

The estimated price tag more than doubled from $6 billion to $13.6 billion, but staff told a bistate panel Dec. 15 it didn’t have new numbers.    By Nigel Jaquiss Oregon Journalism Project At a Dec. 15 public hearing on the Interstate Bridge Replacement project, government employees who have been working for years to replace the I-5 bridge over the Columbia River told a bistate committee of lawmakers they did not have new cost estimates for the …

$17.7 Billion: Exploding costs doom I-5 bridge replacement

The new estimate for the cost of the Interstate Bridge Replacement project has more than doubled to $13.6 billion.  The cost is expected to range between $12.2 billion and $17.7 billion.  The new estimate is 130% higher than the previous (2022) estimate.  City Observatory obtained this estimate from previously unreleased documents it obtained via a public records request. If IBR chooses to build a moveable span bridge because the Coast Guard wil…

Interstate bridge staff hid information about ballooning cost of giant highway project

At a Dec. 15 public hearing on the Interstate Bridge Replacement project, government employees who have been working for years to replace the I-5 bridge over the Columbia River told a bistate committee of lawmakers they did not have new cost estimates for the project. Project staffers first said back in January 2024 they planned to release new cost estimates. Two years later, staff appeared chagrined at last month’s meeting about the lack of in…