The Interstate 5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project is moving ahead to its next phase with $167 million in state funding, even as some critics question the Oregon Department of Transportation‘s piecemeal approach.

The Oregon Legislature adjourned March 6 with the project’s state funding intact despite shortfalls elsewhere in ODOT‘s budget. The total project is expected to cost approximately $2.1 billion. Currently, available funding totals $479.9 million, according to ODOT Deputy Director Travis Brouwer.

“It is both interesting and heartening to see the Legislature has left this Phase 1B funding intact,” Oregon Transportation Commissioner Phil Chang said Thursday, as the commission met to hear updates on several large-scale projects around the state.

“We’re in a very difficult position,” he added. “There are all kinds of services being delayed. There are all kinds of projects that are not being gotten to so that we can move forward with certain priorities. And it’s been great to be able to do that for the Rose Quarter project.”

Chang also pointed to uncertainty regarding the project’s completion.

“I hope we’re in a position after the 2027 legislative session to continue to do that, but I don’t think we can guarantee that to anyone,” he said.

Phase 1B of the project involves extending a southbound auxiliary lane between the Interstate 84 and Morrison Bridge/Oregon Museum of Science and Industry exits, widening the bridge at the Rose Quarter Transit Center and restoring related infrastructure, and building I-5 seismic upgrades and bridge deck resurfacing.

A $30 million federal Reconnecting Communities grant may be used to acquire rights of way in the corridor, project officials said.

“It is an encouraging signal that the tide is slowly but surely starting to shift at the federal level,” said JT Flowers, senior advisor at Albina Vision Trust.

A project working group has begun meeting monthly. The group includes city of Portland and Metro officials, and representatives from the Portland Trail Blazers, Albina Vision Trust and other groups. The working group has greatly improved collaboration on the project, participants said.

“On our end, we feel more confident than ever about the future of this project and our ability as shared stakeholders to deliver a full project, even if it takes us a bit of time,” Flowers said.

ODOT critics said the agency is fitting Rose Quarter construction phasing into the existing project budget with future funding uncertain.

“The money is still in the Rose Quarter budget, and you are determined to spend it,” said Christopher Smith, co-founder of activist group No More Freeways. “So, you are trying to invent a scope that makes sense for that money, with the plan that you’ll come back and ask the Legislature for more later.”

Smith charged that ODOT is building a “lane to nowhere” with no independent function. ODOT officials disputed that assertion during their presentation, saying independent utility of each phase is part of Federal Highway Administration criteria.

Joe Cortright, an economist and director of Portland-based think tank City Observatory, said ODOT needs a long-term funding plan.

“We’re proceeding on a piecemeal basis to fund individual steps without any clear idea of how we will pay for the whole project,” he said.

But some contractors said the project is providing benefits now.

Dominic Waters, owner of Crossover Construction, a Portland concrete contractor working with general contractor Raimore Construction, said that if the project doesn’t move forward, “less and less minority contractors will actually receive opportunities to do this work.”

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