The Portland City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved an ordinance to re-engage as a partner in the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project. An intergovernmental agreement with the Oregon Department of Transportation moves the project forward and outlines the terms of the city staff’s planning and engineering involvement.

The agreement ensures the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project supports the city’s redevelopment goals for the area, and further advances the project.

Last fall, the Historic Albina Advisory Board advanced the “Hybrid 3” option for a highway cover design concept that reconnects the east and west sides of I-5 in the historic Albina neighborhood. This design concept is a community-supported vision developed through the Independent Highway Cover Assessment work.

“This cover provides an opportunity for significant future investment in the community, and perhaps most significantly, in the people who are helping build this project,” HAAB members wrote in a letter to the City Council in support of the agreement. “Not only will the project substantially improve safety on I-5 between I-84 and I-405, but it also promises significant opportunities for jobs and economic development benefiting Black Portlanders – the community most impacted by the original construction of the interstate.”

Albina Vision Trust Executive Director Winta Yohannes also testified in support of the agreement during a June 22 council hearing.

The I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project is a part of the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Urban Mobility Strategy, an approach to make everyday travel safer and more efficient in the Portland metropolitan area.

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Advisory committees for the Interstate 5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project struggled to come to consensus Tuesday on a highway cover option for the project, which could cost more than $2 billion.

The virtual meeting was the first joint summit for the advisory committees since Gov. Kate Brown, during an Aug. 3 meeting, endorsed the “hybrid 3” designed by the Oregon Department of Transportation. The design involves stouter highway covers that can support multistory buildings, and narrow interstate shoulders.

Facilitators repeatedly pushed the Historic Albina Advisory Board, meeting with the Executive Steering Committee, to make a recommendation. But only five of 12 members were present during the meeting, and one left for a business obligation before the meeting ended. The remaining members said they did not want to make a recommendation on behalf of the full board.

Some advisory committee members expressed frustration at the slow pace. The Oregon Transportation Commission is expected to make its recommendation in early September, so any advisory committee recommendation must be made before then, if at all.

“There is an option of stuff just not happening because we can’t get a design through the community and supported by the community,” said Nate McCoy, executive director of the National Association of Minority Contractors’ Oregon chapter. “I’m just a little tired of these continued conversations where we’re just not moving forward, and I think I would like to move forward as soon as possible.”

Others said they were not ready to support the hybrid 3 option, which would add approximately $450 million in cost compared to the initial design. Hybrid 3 is estimated to cost $1.18 billion to $2.25 billion, up from $715 million to $795 million.

Opposition from the Oregon Trucking Associations could prove to be one obstacle. Jana Jarvis, the group’s executive director, repeatedly questioned the cost and asked who would pay for it.

“That section of freeway at the Rose Quarter is eminently important to us,” she said. “And that section of the freeway doesn’t just belong to the city of Portland, or Multnomah County, or Metro – it impacts the economy of the entire state.”

Jarvis questioned the wisdom of building 4-foot-wide shoulders, saying that wouldn’t be wide enough to clear accidents and allow emergency vehicle access.

The costs of restorative justice in Portland should not be borne by the trucking industry, Jarvis said.

“We’re talking a lot about restorative justice here, but those decisions were made decades ago, and they certainly weren’t made by truckers or passenger vehicle owners,” she said. “So my expectation is the state will feel more of a burden to contribute to some of that cost.”

State and local leaders are discussing pricey items such as relocating Harriet Tubman Middle School, connecting the street grid and providing highway covers that can support buildings.

Some stakeholders said they would not forget about racial justice because I-5 was built through the largely Black Albina neighborhood.

“I would really hope that the displaced community of Albina is considered in everything that we do,” said Estelle Love-Lavespere, a member of the HAAB. “That’s who’s hurting. That’s who is displaced. That’s when our job rates, that’s when our homeownership went down and has not recovered since. So that’s who needs to be considered in our decisions.”

Facilitators said they may convene an emergency meeting of the HAAB to forward a recommendation before the Transportation Commission meets in September.

Megan Channell, an ODOT spokeswoman, said early work packages could be issued in 2023.

“2023 is our first shovels-in-the-ground opportunity,” she said. “That said, we are continuing to evaluate what other things outside of those early work packages might we be able to begin sooner.”

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