Multnomah County is seeking a $447 million Bridge Investment Program grant from the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) to help pay for construction of the Burnside Bridge replacement.

The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the grant proposal on Thursday. The proposal is due by Aug. 1.

If the county were to receive the grant, funds would need to be obligated by Sept. 30, 2029, and used by Sept. 30, 2034. The money would be allocated by USDOT from Fiscal Year 2028 through 2033.

A 50 percent match is required for the grant, which would consist of $421 million in bonding secured by the county’s vehicle registration fee, $20 million from the state via HB 5030 (passed during the 2023 legislative session) and $7 million from other federal sources (a $5 million RAISE planning grant and a $2 million congressional appropriation).

According to the project’s website, the budget is not to exceed $895 million.

Large bridge projects with total eligible costs greater than $100 million are candidates for Bridge Investment Program grants, a county staff report states. Approximately $2.45 billion is available in Fiscal Year 2026 and will be awarded on a competitive basis for bridge replacement, rehabilitation and preservation projects.

Megan Neill, engineering services manager for Multnomah County, said the grant would go a long way toward funding project construction. The money would be used to pay contractors.

The effort to replace the Burnside Bridge began in 2016. The environmental review phase was completed in January 2024, and the design phase began in September 2023. If the team were to secure full funding, construction could begin as early as 2028.

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Multnomah County is applying for $447 million from a federal grant program to help pay for construction of the Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge project.

The total cost of the project is $895 million. The intent of the project is to replace the existing bridge with one that can withstand a major earthquake.

Multnomah County is contributing $300 million through its vehicle registration fees and is seeking money to fill the additional $500 million-$600 million. The $447 million grant from the Federal Highway Administration‘s Bridge Investment Program would help cover that gap.

Megan Neill, project manager of the Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge project, stated during a board of commissioners meeting Thursday that the grant is specifically geared toward bridges that are in poor or deteriorating condition. The grant would be used during the construction phase and be spent over the 2025-2030 fiscal years. Neill expects to hear by early next spring whether the project will receive the grant.

The project is currently in the environmental review phase. The goal of the review is to understand the impacts of all options and choose one to design and build. The review is required by the National Environmental Policy Act, a federal law enacted in 1970 to promote the enhancement of the environment, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The review will help the county make an informed decision about what to design and build. It will provide better understanding of the trade-offs and inform the decision of which alternative best meets the needs of the project, while balancing environmental effects.

After several years of studying a wide range of alternatives, project leaders are proposing to replace the existing bridge with a new movable bridge along the same alignment, but with four travel lanes instead of the five the bridge has now, according to information provided by Transportation Public Information Officer Sarah Hurwitz. The new bridge will be a bascule-style movable bridge, like the current bridge, but will have either a tied arch or cable stay structure type on the longer east approach span over the freeways.

A cost savings analysis added about a year to the environmental review phase, which pushed the start date of the design phase to later this year. The final design phase will begin in early 2023. The project team will make final decisions on aesthetics such as whether it will be a cable stay or tied arch on the bridge deck.

Depending on when funds are secured, construction could begin in 2025.

Later this year, a Final Environmental Impact Statement will be published and the county will seek a Record of Decision from the Federal Highway Administration approving the Preferred Alternative. The project will then move into the design phase, followed by construction.

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