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.

To learn more about the project and receive email updates, go to

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The $1.2 billion Interstate 5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project was dealt a setback this week by the Federal Highway Administration, which rescinded a finding of “no significant impact” for the project.

That means the Oregon Department of Transportation must complete an environmental assessment, slowing the approval process.

“This means that the environmental process will still be taking place, but it is going to take longer,” Rose Quarter project director Megan Channell said. “It is going to take a few more months, with completion expected by the end of this year instead of summertime.”

Channell’s comments came during Thursday’s Oregon Transportation Commission meeting.

Commissioner Sharon Smith, of Bend, said she was concerned by the “continued delays and cost increases” for the massive project.

“It’s just daunting,” she said. “It’s just really daunting.”

FHA Division Administrator Phillip A. Ditzler rescinded the “no significant impact” finding in a letter to ODOT on Tuesday. Project opponents, who have questioned the environmental impact and cost of widening I-5, cast the finding’s revocation as a victory.

“No More Freeways has said for a long time that ODOT has not meaningfully studied the disastrous impacts this proposed freeway expansion would have to our community,” Aaron Brown, organizer of the activist group, stated in a news release.

No More Freeways had filed a lawsuit in April 2021 against ODOT regarding the finding of no significant impact.

“We remain concerned about this project disrupting our streets and discouraging development for years of construction before increasing traffic, congestion and pollution for future generations,” stated Allan Rudwick, co-chairman of the Eliot Neighborhood Association and a lawsuit plaintiff.

ODOT and industry groups portray the project as a chance to modernize I-5 while providing construction jobs and supporting a new generation of contractors.

Also Thursday, ODOT revealed a revised project design that features one large freeway cover. It would maintain the Flint Avenue crossing over I-5 and replace the Clackamas Bicycle and Pedestrian Bridge with the Broadway/Weidler Green Loop. The design iteration also reduces highway inside shoulder widths.

Budget estimates remained the same, at $1.18 billion to $1.25 billion. The highway covers in that option could support three-story buildings. For an additional $172 million to $200 million, the covers could be built strong enough to support structures up to six stories.

A funding shortfall persists, Channell said.

“We have a substantial gap and today no other sources of committed funding,” she said. “So that is our focus ahead as we continue to progress the financial planning process.”

The Legislature funded $30 million annually beginning this year. The state can leverage an additional $500 million to $700 million through bonds. There is still uncertainty about how much funding will be available from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the fate of the Biden administration’s Build Back Better bill, ODOT officials said.

ODOT officials essentially punted on providing a fuller financial picture to the OTC on Thursday.

“We want to bring something to you as a funding plan that’s ready for prime time,” said Brendan Finn, director of ODOT’s Urban Mobility Office. “We want to give you some certainty. Because there’s some other things we need to unpack – the uncertainty of Build Back Better out there as well – we’re asking for your patience so we can bring you a real concrete product as it relates to the financial plan.”

ODOT’s timeline calls for early construction work to begin in mid-2023, with the main construction resulting in the second half of 2025. At that time, tolling would also be implemented.

ODOT is looking at the project’s early stages to provide a leg up for disadvantaged and emerging contractors.

“It’s really with these early work packages that we’ll see some of the greatest opportunities for the disadvantaged business enterprise jobs,” Channell said.

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The Oregon Department of Transportation calls its $1.2 billion proposal the Interstate 5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project.

For many advocates in the debate over whether to expand and modernize the freeway, the question is how it will be improved, and for whom.

Will it be for the trucking industry, to shave a few minutes off of an interstate trip? Or for everyday motorists commuting into a critical West Coast economic arterial? Will there be benefits for Portland’s Black community, which suffered from construction of Interstate 5 and other “urban renewal” projects in the 1960s? What about contractors, including some that are Black-owned?

And what role should an interstate play in the 21st century, when climates are changing and natural disasters are increasing?

ODOT, the project’s sponsor, has shown no signs of backing down. In August, the Oregon Transportation Commission endorsed a design concept that includes highway covers – a plan known as the “hybrid 3” option. Gov. Kate Brown gave the project her full backing.

The project promises to reduce congestion, enhance safety and to some degree reknit the urban grid that I-5 pierced originally, according to ODOT and supporters. It will also generate substantial economic activity, with Black-owned contractors likely to benefit.

Yet many critics still point to fundamental issues with the project. Even OTC members have given voice to serious doubts while voting to endorse the project. It all boils down to a single question: Is the Interstate 5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project a good idea?

Capacity and induced demand

ODOT and project supporters say I-5 needs greater capacity through Portland to ease traffic flow. Critics are skeptical, largely because of a concept known as induced demand.

Induced demand holds that more road capacity creates more demand for driving. Traffic data from the Katy Freeway in Houston – 26 lanes at its widest point – showed travel times increased in the years after a $2.8 billion highway expansion was completed in 2011.

“It’s almost instantaneous, this effect of induced demand,” said Joe Cortright, a Portland economist who runs the City Observatory website and has spent years opposing ODOT’s interstate expansions.

Traffic is less like a river and more like a balloon filled with gas – expanding and contracting with vehicles, Cortright added.

“In dense, urban environments, there’s a lot of latent demand,” he said. “People are always making choices. If the roads are congested, people make different choices. Once they become slightly less congested, they make different choices.”

ODOT itself no longer argues that induced demand isn’t real. Instead, ODOT officials expect to propose tolling to manage traffic after completion of the I-5 project.

“If these safety and congestion improvements do induce new demand, that demand will be managed with congestion pricing,” said Brendan Finn, director of ODOT’s urban mobility office.

Asked directly if ODOT accepts induced demand, Finn said, “Absolutely, and we’re going to be driven by the science.”

Pricing the road will help keep traffic in check, Oregon Transportation Commissioner Sharon Smith said.

“It will be coupled with a tolling program, with an effort to reduce congestion,” she said.

The trucking industry is lobbying for the project. Jana Jarvis, lobbyist for the Oregon Trucking Associations, said adding capacity to the interstate makes sense.

“That is the only two-lane section of urban freeway between Canada and Mexico,” she said.

Most truck traffic on I-5 serves local consumers, Jarvis said. Truckers driving longer distances typically take Interstate 205.

“Induced demand is a theory, and I don’t understand it in this context,” she said. “I don’t know anybody who goes out and drives on that section of freeway for the fun of it.”

Cortright said ODOT has it backward – first, the agency should toll the freeway to reduce demand, and then determine how much capacity the road needs.

“The logical way to do this is price the roads first – find out how many people are willing to pay to travel at peak hour,” he said.

Rising project costs

Cost estimates, released in August, raised alarm among public officials.

“They’re having misgivings now about the cost,”Cortright said. “Now it’s $1.2 billion. So this is ballooning and, as they say, that’s real money.”

Oregon Transportation Commission members have expressed some doubts about the project. At a September meeting, Smith questioned the cost.

“I just wonder if we were to ask the question of the Legislature or the state or the citizens: Do you want to spend $1.5 billion on a Rose Quarter project? Is that the best use of our public funds right now? And I don’t know if the answer would be yes,” she said.

In a recent interview, however, Smith doubled down on her support for the project.

“The Rose Quarter is one of the worst freight bottlenecks in the country. It has the most crashes of any stretch of I-5 in Oregon,” she said. “We have an opportunity to leverage transportation dollars for highway improvements. We can create local street connections that would knit this community together. So it’s a unique opportunity that we really need to take a hard look at.”

Smith portrayed her earlier comments in OTC meetings as “due diligence” for taxpayer dollars.

Commission Vice Chairman Alando Simpson also balked at the rising cost estimates at the September meeting, noting that construction of the covers will cost more than $6,000 per square foot – making that real estate some of the most expensive in Portland. Simpson was not available for an interview, ODOT officials said.

Contractors are already at work preparing for the project via efforts such as soil and hazardous materials sampling. In July 2020, ODOT announced its intent to award the construction manager-general contractor contract to the joint venture of Hamilton Sundt, in association with Raimore Construction.

Now, officials and advocates are waiting to see if funding for the project could come from the $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure bill.

“These were agreed-upon projects, and it’s time to move forward,” Jarvis said.

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The Oregon Transportation Commission on Thursday supported adoption of the highway cover design concept for the Interstate 5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project, while giving voice to concerns about costs, delays and who should pay.

Commissioners voted unanimously to back the “hybrid 3” option that Gov. Kate Brown threw her support behind at an Aug. 3 meeting. The hybrid 3 design calls for highway covers that could support two- to three-story buildings and reconnect Flint Street across I-5.

The covers are seen by local government and Black community officials as crucial links to reconnect the street grid and provide restorative justice to the Albina neighborhood, which was bisected by the interstate’s construction in the 1960s.

Who will pay for it is another matter. Costs have soared – the Oregon Department of Transportation now estimates hybrid 3 will cost $1.18 billion to $1.25 billion, up from a baseline of $715 million to $795 million. Construction of highway covers strong enough to support five- to six-story buildings would add $200 million to the cost, said Megan Channell, project director for ODOT.

Transportation commissioners questioned whether the project is worth the cost.

“I just wonder if we were to ask the question of the Legislature or the state or the citizens: Do you want to spend $1.5 billion on a Rose Quarter project? Is that the best use of our public funds right now? And I don’t know if the answer would be yes,” Commissioner Sharon Smith said.

“At some level,” she added, “I just question the viability.”

The covers will cost more than $6,000 per square foot to build, Commissioner Alando Simpson said.

Commissioners said it is incumbent upon local governments to help pay for the project, because it would benefit local streets as well as the interstate.

“The decision to put I-5 there was a decision made not solely by ODOT, but by the entire community – the city of Portland, the neighborhoods around, the whole community,” Smith said. “So when we look at a finance plan to embark on restorative justice, it seems to me that ODOT should not be the only entity at the table helping right that wrong.”

The commission’s resolution calls on the city of Portland, Multnomah County, Metro and TriMet to help fund the project.

Local contributions to interstate projects are not unusual, said Travis Brouwer, ODOT’s assistant director for revenue, finance and compliance. He pointed to the I-5 Woodburn interchange and the I-5 South Medford interchange, where local governments helped pay for street connectivity improvements.

“Local communities stepped up and made contributions,” he said.

I-5 construction also could receive federal funding, including authorized money from the infrastructure bill passed by the Senate, Commission Chairman Robert Van Brocklin said.

He reminded commissioners that the I-5 Rose Quarter expansion is a “state-mandated project” included in House Bill 2017.

“We were directed to do a congestion-relief project,” he said.

During the public comment period, labor and industry officials said the project should begin as soon as possible, while environmental groups said the plan ignores climate change.

“This project is too important for the community to be delayed longer than this proposed 10-12-month delay, and at a time that is economically choking our community out,” said Nate McCoy, executive director of the National Association of Minority Contractors – Oregon. “We think we need to act sooner rather than later, and the time is now.”

Sunrise Movement activists asked transportation commissioners to reconsider expanding the freeway.

“Stop rubber-stamping ODOT’s proposals to invest billions of dollars into harmful freeway expansions and instead start seriously investing in climate-resilient, efficient and accessible bicycle-(pedestrian) infrastructure statewide,” said Cassie Wilson, a Boring resident.

The next steps, Channell said, are to advance design from the current 5 percent level, develop a detailed cost estimate and finance plan, forge any necessary intergovernmental agreements and update diversity subcontracting plans.

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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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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 “now on the cusp of moving forward with a highway cover recommendation to the Oregon Transportation Commission,” Brown said Tuesday during a remote video meeting of the executive steering committee and advisory boards.

“I 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,” she said. “It’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.”

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 “hybrid 3.” 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.

“I believe that this is a win-win solution that we were hoping for when I began those conversations,” 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 – now a sticking point for Portland Public Schools.

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

“If 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,” 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.

“Hopefully we can stop the blame game now and move on to productive ways in which we can realize the opportunities on this project,” he said.

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The Oregon Department of Transportation has selected a construction manager/general contractor to lead a controversial Portland freeway expansion effort. The agency announced Monday an intent to award a contract to Hamilton Sundt a Joint Venture, in association with Raimore Construction, for the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project.

The joint venture teams Springfield-based heavy civil specialists Hamilton Construction and Arizona-based Sundt Construction. Raimore Construction, a minority-owned firm certified by the state’s Certification Office for Business Inclusion and Diversity, is based in Portland.

Estimated to cost up to $795 million, the project will widen a 1.8-mile stretch of Interstate 5 between Interstate 405 to the north and the Morrison Bridge exit to the south. A request for proposals issued in April listed a guaranteed maximum price of between $575 million and $635 million for the CM/GC contract.

The project lost the support of key backers earlier this month when Albina Vision Trust announced it would no longer support the project due in part to a lack of freeway caps included in current plans. The interstate was built through historically Black neighborhoods in the 1960s, and Albina Vision Trust has advocated for the caps as a means to restore communities displaced by the freeway’s construction.

After Albina Vision Trust pulled its support for the project, public officials including Gov. Kate Brown, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and Commissioner Chloe Eudaly followed suit, saying they would not endorse the project without the backing of communities of color.

According to an ODOT press release, involving a CM/GC early in the design process will help meet the project’s emphasis on providing “restorative justice for communities harmed by previous government actions.”

The contractor will work with community members to help shape the project’s design, identify subcontracting and procurement opportunities for COBID-certified firms and build capacity for minority workers. According to the RFP, ODOT anticipates Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) participation goals of about 18 to 22 percent; the project also includes workforce goals of 25 percent minority male workers, 14 percent female workers, and 20 percent apprentice workers.

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The Oregon Department of Transportation is seeking a construction manager/general contractor for a $795 million project intended to alleviate the traffic bottleneck on Interstate 5 through Portland’s Rose Quarter.

A request for proposals was issued April 13 for a CM/GC contract with a guaranteed maximum price estimate between $575 million and $635 million. The work will widen a 1.8-mile stretch of the highway between Interstate 405 to the north and the Morrison Bridge exit to the south.

Plans call for the additions of auxiliary lanes and shoulders, construction of highway covers, improvements to surrounding surface streets, and upgrades to interchanges – including relocation of a frequently congested southbound on-ramp near the Moda Center.

In addition, three new I-5 bridges will be constructed, and multiple bridges will either be widened or removed. The project is expected to be completed with limited reduction in the number of travel lanes during construction.

The CM/GC will be part of a project team that includes ODOT, an owner’s representative and an architecture and engineering consultant. A best value selection method will be used to determine the CM/GC, which will be responsible for consulting, providing constructability review, cost control and estimating services, and self-performing at least 30 percent of work during the project’s construction phase.

According to the RFP, ODOT anticipates Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) participation goals of about 18 to 22 percent. DBE goals for each amendment to the contract will be narrowly tailored to the subcontracting opportunities available for each such amendment.

The project has encountered opposition from critics who argue that it will increase emissions. They also have questioned how effective the improvements will be in relieving congestion and improving safety. The Oregon Transportation Commission recently gave ODOT the go-ahead to move forward with an environmental assessment for the project rather than conduct a more intensive environmental impact study.

A mandatory pre-proposal conference will take place April 28, and proposals are due May 19. Substantial completion of the project is to occur by Oct. 1, 2027.

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The Oregon Transportation Commission on Thursday voted to move forward with an environmental assessment for a $795 million project to widen and improve Interstate 5 through Portland.

The commission directed the Oregon Department of Transportation to continue working on alternative designs for highway covers in consultation with local officials, and to move forward with congestion pricing on I-5 through the Rose Quarter.

The decision came despite a chorus of criticism urging the commission to require a more stringent environmental impact statement. Environmental advocates say the project will worsen climate change.

“ODOT continues to deceive the public on the expansion’s expected impacts to local air pollution, regional carbon emissions and recurring traffic congestion,” Aaron Brown, spokesman for the No More Freeways coalition, stated in an email message.

ODOT has steadfastly backed the project, pointing to a legislative mandate.

“The Rose Quarter freeway improvements will reduce congestion, improve safety and allow new transit facilities on the worst traffic bottleneck in the state and one of the most congested freeway corridors in the country,” Commission Chairman Robert Van Brocklin stated in a news release.

City officials have questioned aspects of the project, including a portion of roadway that could overhang the Eastbank Esplanade – a popular trail for bicyclists and runners.

The project is only 15 percent designed, stated Megan Channell, Rose Quarter project director for ODOT.

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The Oregon Transportation Commission will wait until January to decide how to move forward on a plan to widen Interstate 5 and redevelop portions of the surrounding neighborhood near Portland’s Rose Quarter.

The commission, meeting in Lebanon on Tuesday, must choose whether to pursue an environmental impact statement, or stick with an existing, less stringent environmental assessment, for the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project.

The delay came a day after Gov. Kate Brown sent a letter requesting the commission “table the decision on an environmental review path for a few months.” Brown requested the commission wait until progress has been made on a leadership policy, decision-making structure and a study of development alternatives for the highway covers.

Commission Chairman Robert Van Brocklin said he would listen to critics.

“We’re not trying to railroad something through without listening, and we’re not going to,” he said.

Van Brocklin said the commission would carefully consider the governor’s letter.

“Her voice to me carries some additional weight because we serve at her pleasure,” he said.

The delay was, at least in the short term, a victory for activists who have insisted the widening project is the wrong approach to take in an era of worsening global climate change.

The project would add auxiliary lanes and shoulders on I-5 between I-84 and I-405. It also would change surface streets and highway caps surrounding I-5.

The project, which is expected to cost more than $500 million, is backed by construction industry and labor organizations, and many local residents of the historically black Albina neighborhood.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the contrast was stark between the mostly white Portland State University students speaking on behalf of climate group Sunrise Movement PDX, and the older, African-American residents of Albina who have seen their neighborhood reshaped by waves of urban renewal projects and gentrification.

“A lot of people are now talking about the environmental impact such a project may have,” said Larry Anderson, a 63-year-old retired Portland police officer and Northeast Portland resident. “When that freeway was first put in place, when it was predominantly an African-American community, I did not hear those same concerns about the environment.”

Climate activists said the world has only a few years left to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

“I’m here today because I’m scared,” said Marilyn Fleener of Sunrise Movement PDX. “I was born into a world that prioritizes capital over people.”

Yet some local residents said they welcome the project.

“This $500 million project represents a significant investment in the Rose Quarter area,” said Robert Hamilton, a representative of the Coalition of Black Men in Portland.

The Oregon Department of Transportation and other supporters have emphasized the benefits the project would bring to minority-owned, women-owned and emerging small business contractors. “Upward of $100 million” in contracts is expected to go to disadvantaged firms, said Nate McCoy, executive director of the National Association of Minority Contractors’ Oregon chapter.

“This kind of economic empowerment is needed in our community now,” said Jeff Moreland, president of Raimore Construction. “Do not – I repeat do not – delay this project any longer.”

The project is at about 15 percent design, said Megan Channell, major projects manager for ODOT Region 1 in Portland. The project was identified as a priority and partially funded by House Bill 2017 in the 2017 legislative session.

“We are required to design and build the project,” Van Brocklin said.

A “cost to complete” report is due to the Legislature by Feb. 1, 2020.

Commissioner Alando Simpson said ODOT has “become that punching bag,” caught between rapidly changing transportation needs and a long-established structure.

“We’re operating in a broken system,” he said.

Commissioner Sharon Smith said ODOT is moving in the right direction – but not too fast.

“Our organization is doing some course-correcting to focus on reduction of carbon emissions,” she said. “I know it’s probably not as fast as many of you would like to see, but I don’t think we can put the brakes on this system that we have in a way that’s not thoughtful in the context of this community and the projects that we have in front of us.”

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