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Oregon Gov. Kate Brown this week threw her support behind the beleaguered state effort to widen and modernize Interstate 5 through North Portland, calling for the project to advance.

The I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project is 鈥渘ow on the cusp of moving forward with a highway cover recommendation to the Oregon Transportation Commission,鈥� Brown said Tuesday during a remote video meeting of the executive steering committee and advisory boards.

鈥淚 wanted to ensure that this project is part of addressing and not repeating the historic wrongs caused by the displacement of countless Black families and the resulting generational damage that occurred,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t’s also incredibly important to me that we find a path forward that can preserve the contracting opportunities in place. As I think everyone in this Zoom room knows, the Rose Quarter project is perhaps the largest disadvantaged-business enterprise contracting opportunity in the state.鈥�

The project has been beset with criticism that it would exacerbate displacement around the interstate, interfere with students at Harriet Tubman Middle School and lead to greater carbon emissions at a time of worsening climate change. The city of Portland withdrew its support for the project in October 2020, about a month after the Oregon Department of Transportation disbanded an advisory committee that had criticized the project.

Brown said she supports a design option for the project known as 鈥渉ybrid 3.鈥� That option allows for wider, stouter highway covers that could support three-story buildings. Construction of the covers and surrounding areas is expected to cost $1.1 billion to $1.16 billion, out of a total project cost of $1.18 billion to $1.25 billion.

The hybrid 3 option addresses safety, congestion and environmental concerns while providing development opportunities and a timeline that would leave existing contracting opportunities in place, Brown said.

鈥淚 believe that this is a win-win solution that we were hoping for when I began those conversations,鈥� she said.

ODOT has an existing contract with the Hamilton Sundt joint venture, in association with Raimore Construction. Work could begin in late 2023, according to an ODOT document. The hybrid 3 option would add 10-12 months for redesign and additional technical analysis, and six additional months of construction to move a southbound ramp and add wider covers.

Highway shoulders would be narrower (4 feet) than planned previously (12 feet).

Brown also said she supports moving Tubman Middle School to another location farther from I-5. She didn’t suggest a precise location or how movement of the school would be paid for 鈥� now a sticking point for Portland Public Schools.

Committee members suggested during the meeting that they were ready to move forward.

鈥淚f it’s hybrid 3, let’s get on with the business of making hybrid 3 the best that we can, rather than spend a lot of time debating when we pretty much know where the stars are aligned,鈥� said Joe McFerrin, a member of the Community Oversight Advisory Committee and president and CEO of the Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center.

James Posey, another committee member who also represents the Coalition of Black Men, agreed.

鈥淗opefully we can stop the blame game now and move on to productive ways in which we can realize the opportunities on this project,鈥� he said.