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Earlier this month, President Barack Obama directed the U.S. Department of Transportation to accelerate the awarding of $527 million in competitive TIGER grants. Multnomah County’s Sellwood Bridge replacement project is a contender for one for those grants, and county spokesman Mike Pullen said the faster timeline will be “a good thing” for the project.

鈥淚f we were to know by the end of December if we have all (the money asked for), or some lower amount, that would help us with a strategy for the legislative session in February,鈥� Pullen said.

The federal DOT received approximately 1,000 applications for the pool of $527 million in TIGER funds this year. The Sellwood Bridge project has a $22.7 million shortfall, which county representatives hope to close completely with a TIGER grant.

If the bridge doesn’t get TIGER money, however, there are other options for the project. The project’s two “Plan B” options include postponing project elements or building an “interim interchange” that costs less money, but does not address traffic issues, Pullen said.

Demolition and preparation work on the bridge project has already begun, and the county expects to start in-water work during a fish window in December.