The Oregon Transportation Commission on Tuesday voted to approve an approximately $3.6 billion increase in funding for the Interstate Bridge Replacement (IBR) Program.

The amendment to the 2024-2027 Statewide Transportation Improvement Program increases funding from approximately $2.05 billion to approximately $5.7 billion for a first set of Interstate Bridge projects. In total, they are expected to cost $7.65 billion, interim IBR Program administrator Carley Francis said. Those projects encompass program management, which includes right of way and utility relocation costs, preliminary engineering and construction for the new bridge, connections to Interstate 5 and State Route 14 and Hayden Island, removal of the existing Interstate Bridge spans, and pre-construction tolling. It will also include light rail infrastructure design north and south of the new bridge.

“We had not previously included bridge removal in the STIP amendment because of the time frame; it would occur outside of the STIP horizon,” Francis said. “However, in focusing on maintenance of traffic for river users, and considering opportunities both for combining contracts and also just managing that risk of river movement and having one entity be both constructing and removing the bridges and be responsible for that, it provided some opportunities.”

The cost to remove the current bridge is expected to be $390 million.

The STIP funding comes from general obligation bonding via Oregon House Bill 5005 (2023), a Bridge Investment Program (BIP) grant from the Federal Highway Administration, toll revenue, a Move Ahead Washington grant, and a Mega grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Specifically, the STIP amendment includes an increase from approximately $554.6 million to $795.36 million for costs associated with preliminary engineering, right-of-way acquisition, and utility relocation; an increase from approximately $1.47 billion to $4.78 billion for preliminary engineering and construction work that will allow the completion of the new bridge adjacent to the existing one; an increase from $24.59 million to $51.9 million for pre-launch activities related to tolling; and an allocation of $50.7 million to advance design for light rail elements north and south of the bridge.

Meanwhile, Francis said, the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council is set to vote June 2 whether to amend the state’s 2026-2029 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and the Metro Council is slated to vote June 25 whether to amend the 2024-2027 Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Plan. Both proposals would increase funding for the project.

If those proposals were to gain approval, federal agencies would issue an amended Record of Decision (ROD) and secure the obligation of the remaining $1.5 billion of BIP funding and $600 million of Mega funding.

“There is $546 million of BIP funds that would expire if we do not obligate them by the end of September,” Francis said.

The IBR Program team expects to receive an ROD this summer. That would allow the project to enter the construction phase, including the construction contractor procurement process. Design and cost negotiations would occur in 2027, and bridge construction activities would begin in 2028.

According to the IBR Program website, the entire project cost is estimated at $13.5 billion to $15.2 billion with a likely cost of $14.4 billion. It will remain an estimate until a guaranteed maximum price is determined, Francis said.

There will be a robust governance process from both states overseeing the project going forward, said Travis Brouwer, deputy director of revenue, finance and compliance for the Oregon Department of Transportation. It will likely include regularly updating the state transportation commissions and legislatures on construction costs.

Brouwer added that Tuesday’s vote commits funds that are available now and already committed. Any decision for additional funding would be brought before the Oregon Transportation Commission, he said.

The two states’ transportation commissions will meet June 5 to discuss toll rates and options for the project.

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U.S. Coast Guard approval of a fixed-span design for a new Interstate Bridge marked a key regulatory step forward last week, but soaring costs have clouded the project’s outlook.

Cost estimates for the Interstate Bridge replacement program have more than doubled, with a high-end estimate for a fixed span rising to $17.7 billion, according to recently unearthed Oregon Department of Transportation documents.

The documents were obtained by City Observatory, a Portland-based think tank, through a public records request. ODOT hadn’t publicly updated its cost estimates since 2022, when it gauged the bridge’s cost at $5 billion to $7.5 billion.

“I was shocked,” said Joe Cortright, a Portland economist who runs City Observatory.

Cortright added that he expected the project’s cost to rise to $9 billion to $10 billion, far below the actual estimates, which range from $12.2 billion to $17.7 billion. The rise in estimated costs far outpaces overall inflation and construction cost indexes, he noted.

ODOT pushed back, saying the cost figures do not represent a complete cost estimate, which involves an in-depth examination of the costs of labor and equipment materials as well as the schedule.

“The IBR program has been clear with its partners and the public that the cost of the IBR program is going to increase, but since the cost estimating process remains under way, we do not have a final number to share at this time,” IBR program administrator Carley Francis stated in an email on Wednesday.

An official cost estimate is expected in March, according to ODOT.

Infrastructure projects across the nation “are currently experiencing significant price increases,” Francis stated. “We do not expect the IBR program to be immune to the cost increases we are seeing around the country.”

It’s unclear where leaders in Oregon and Washington will get all the funding needed to construct the bridge. In all, the program has more than $5 billion in identified funding, Francis stated.

The states have pledged $1 billion each, in addition to $217 million in existing state funding. Federal grants and toll revenues are also expected to help foot the bill.

“Ultimately, it’ll continue to be a mix of contributions from different levels of government,” said Mike Salsgiver, executive director of Associated General Contractors’ Oregon-Columbia chapter.

Ongoing state and federal sources will need to be tapped for the project, he said.

“With a project of this length, it will be an annual revisiting of federal appropriations and each legislature,” he said.

Salsgiver and other transportation advocates will visit Oregon’s congressional delegation in Washington, D.C., in April to push for continued funding.

“The region will have to continue to make sure those funding streams are open and able to get this project complete,” Salsgiver said.

Cortright cast doubt on federal willingness to pay for the project.

“Right now, the congressional Republicans and the Trump administration — they’re not really favorably inclined toward transit projects generally, and particularly not those in blue states and cities,” he said.

Project backers were buoyed by the Coast Guard’s determination that a fixed span with 116 feet of vertical clearance will provide adequate room for boats to pass underneath. A movable span would have been even more expensive, according to estimates.

“They’re portraying it as a big step forward,” Cortright said. “They dodged a bullet.”

ODOT recently told transportation commissioners that the project is marching ahead.

The IBR program team “will continue working to ensure a successful transition from environmental and planning to delivery and construction,” ODOT interim Director Lisa Sumption wrote in a Jan. 15 letter to the Oregon Transportation Commission ahead of a meeting on Jan. 22. “This includes coordinating with partners to update the construction sequencing and funding strategy to advance the first set of investments towards delivering the full program.”

Tools to address costs could include value engineering, seeking additional federal, state and local funding, and construction phasing. That would mean “building portions of the investments that have adequate funding and working to secure funding for remaining investments in the future,” Sumption wrote.

Cortright has been critical of ODOT for what he describes as a pattern of beginning work on projects that have not been fully funded.

“They basically turn the sunk-cost fallacy into a management strategy,” Cortright said. “They want to create the sense that hey, we’ve started this and we need to finish it.”

2026 is likely to prove a decisive year for the project. Looming ahead is a Sept. 30 deadline to obligate a significant portion of grant funds from the Federal Highway Administration bridge investment program.

Project officials also expect to complete a final supplemental environmental impact statement this year. That will be followed by an amended record of decision that will include an updated cost estimate and financial plan.

IBR program officials are conducting a tolling study for those documents. The study will examine how much tolls will cost, and how much revenue they will raise.

Both project supporters and opponents point to tolling as a potential political vulnerability. Opposition to tolling has been intense, causing Gov. Tina Kotek and legislators to backtrack from a portion of the 2017 transportation funding bill that called for tolling on interstates 5 and 205.

Drivers are unlikely to look kindly on paying tolls for a new Interstate Bridge, either.

“Tolling is a broader challenge,” Salsgiver said.

ODOT’s toll scenarios range from $1.55 per crossing before the bridge is completed to $4.70 post completion, with some offsets for lower-income drivers.

The bridge has been tolled before. Salsgiver recalled as a child that he would throw a quarter into a toll box to cross the existing Interstate Bridge; its second span was completed in 1958.

Today’s drivers have become unaccustomed to paying tolls, Salsgiver said.

“It’s unfortunate,” he said. Removing tolls “taught a generation of Oregonians — and more — that we don’t do tolling here.”

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The Metro Council last week added three Interstate Bridge Replacement (IBR) projects to the 2024-2027 Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program (MTIP) to meet federal project delivery requirements. The Interstate Bridge replacement project is in the design phase; construction is expected to begin next year.

The council voted 6-1 on Thursday to approve the amendment (Mary Nolan voted no). The item will next go before the Oregon Transportation Commission on July 31. The commission’s approval is required for authorization of the funding for the three projects. If the commission were to deny the amendment, the Metro Council’s decision would be considered invalid and would not be sent to the Federal Highway Administration for final approval.

The June 2025 MTIP contains three projects related to the effort to replace the Interstate Bridge and improve related interchanges. One is a modification to the I-5 Columbia River (Interstate) Bridge project and two new projects are related to tolling and the construction of the replacement bridge. The combined amendment is $1.9 billion, said Ted Leybold, Metro transportation policy director.

The I-5 Columbia River (Interstate) Bridge project contains the nonconstruction phases for the IBR program. Funding for the planning and initial preliminary engineering phase was obligated prior to development of the 2024-2027 MTIP. Planning and design are under way; the work includes right-of-way and utility relocation activities for early construction packages, as well as continuing overall program management and development work. The total MTIP programming cost has increased from $103 million to approximately $554.6 million.

One new project for pre-completion of tolling infrastructure calls for installing signage, related structures, and electrical systems in preparation of new tolling operations on and near the Interstate Bridge. The total MTIP programming cost is approximately $24.6 million.

The other new project added to the MTIP is for the replacement of the Interstate Bridge. It will advance post-NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) design and construction activities for the new bridge over the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington, downstream of the existing structure. The work will support the construction of two new bridges to accommodate highway, transit and active transportation modes. The total MTIP programming amount is approximately $1.5 billion.

Tolling rates will be set by the Oregon Transportation Commission and the Washington State Transportation Commission. Pre-completion tolling on the Interstate Bridge is expected to start in 2027.

Ray Mabey, assistant program manager for the IBR program and the state bridge engineer for the Oregon Department of Transportation, said tolling rates will be variable depending on time of day. IBR program staffers are studying possible tolling rates; all scenarios include a discount for low-income drivers.

According to the , the total estimated project cost is from $5 billion to $7.5 billion.

Full project completion is expected to require 10 to 15 years.

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Oregon State Sen. Mark Meek said that he is open to Gov. Tina Kotek recalling the Legislature for a special session on transportation funding — if the governor agrees to repeal a tolling law.

“I’m open to that,” he said. “I told the governor, I committed that if the final package looks good, I’m happy to be there. But one of my requests is to repeal ORS 383.150.”

The tolling statute, on the books since 2017, directs the Oregon Transportation Commission to establish a toll program and assess potential tolls on interstates 5 and 205. Plans by the Oregon Department of Transportation to pay for roads and bridges with tolling has foundered amid political opposition and planning obstacles.

Meek’s comments, in a brief interview on Sunday, come amid speculation that Kotek will reconvene the Legislature in a special session to tackle transportation funding. The regular session ended June 27 in acrimony after a major transportation bill ran out of gas.

Kotek’s office did not specifically respond to Meek’s comments. “The governor is assessing next steps,” a spokesperson said Monday.

Meek said he’s been in discussions with Kotek and other state leaders since the session ended without a transportation funding package.

“I’ve had several communications with the governor and her staff, and we are working on a special session to try to keep our ODOT workers out in the field, maintain the roads for Oregonians and then also make sure that we can rebalance HCAS,” Meek said, referring to the state Highway Cost Allocation Study.

The biannual study, conducted most recently by ECONorthwest for the state Office of Economic Analysis, helps lawmakers determine how to spend transportation funds. It has played a role in the heated debate in Salem about who benefits from and who pays for transportation levies, including the gas tax, weight-mile tax and vehicle registration fees, and how that should be divided between the trucking industry and regular commuters.

Meek, D-Gladstone, has fought tolls in the Legislature. Meek’s Clackamas County constituents have been in an uproar over potential tolls on the Abernethy Bridge, the I-205 span connecting West Linn and Oregon City.

Meek said his constituents should not bear the brunt of Oregon’s tolling program. He said the tolling law is “so harmful and damaging to my community in Clackamas County.”

Meek called for “an honest discussion about what tolling looks like here in Oregon, or at least in my community.”

The bridge is undergoing a major project to strengthen it in case of an earthquake, and to widen the roadway to increase capacity. The project is expected to be complete next year.

The Legislature adjourned without passing House Bill 2025, a wide-ranging transportation funding bill. Meek was removed from the Joint Transportation Reinvestment Committee by Senate leaders after he said he would not support the bill.

Republicans and some Democrats were leery of the numerous revenue-raising provisions in the bill, including raising the 40-cent gas tax by 15 cents, indexing it to inflation, and hiking vehicle registration fees.

Supporters argued that the state must complete a series of major transportation projects, including the Interstate 5 Rose Quarter expansion, which would also create highway covers to repair the street grid in Portland’s Albina neighborhood, and fund regular road maintenance.

After lawmakers went home, ODOT laid off at least 483 workers and began canceling minor road projects around the state.

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State transportation officials on Thursday said that this summer they will ask for $1.9 billion to begin the 15-year task of replacing the Interstate Bridge.

The project is nearing the end of environmental review, and Oregon and Washington transportation officials are looking to advance the initial phases of two dozen construction packages for building the bridge and a network of interstate expansions and local improvements in Portland and Vancouver.

“So, not to bury the lead — it’s a large (transportation plan) request — probably the largest the agency’s seen,” said Ray Mabey, the project’s assistant program administrator, at Thursday’s Oregon Transportation Commission meeting. “That is not lost on me — the size and the meaning of that.”

The $1.9 billion would come from both Oregon and Washington state governments, as well as federal funds and expected tolling revenue. The formal request, expected in July, would come in the form of a Statewide Transportation Improvement Program amendment.

The massive ask includes $1.3 billion for construction, $433 million for preliminary engineering, $232 million for right-of-way acquisition and $10 million for utility relocation.

Initially, Oregon taxpayers will shoulder a heavier burden, with general obligation bonds totaling $249.5 million, while Washington will kick in $119.7 million. That will even out over time, and the states will cross-bill each other for project expenses, Mabey said.

The Oregon money will help pay for right-of-way acquisitions near Marine Drive and Hayden Island.

“For the particular projects we’re talking about, the right-of-way need is greater in Oregon,” Mabey said.

The total project was estimated in 2023 to cost $5 billion to $7.5 billion. That range is expected to grow when Interstate Bridge project officials release an updated cost estimate later this year or early in 2026.

Project officials are waiting on a record of decision — a final determination under the National Environmental Policy Act. That’s expected to arrive early in 2026.

“That record of decision is really the key pivot point for us to move into delivery, to start acquiring right-of-way, starting utility relocation, final design, as well as moving into construction,” Mabey said.

Meanwhile, the Bi-State Tolling Subcommittee will soon begin its work in earnest. Tolling on the bridge risks public backlash in Oregon, where such revenue collection is virtually unknown.

Tolling rates will be set in summer 2026, said Travis Brouwer, assistant director for revenue, finance and compliance for the Oregon Department of Transportation.

“This is the first time we’ve set toll rates on a bistate level in a long time,” Brouwer said. “So, we’re going to have to make sure that this follows the law in Washington, the law in Oregon and that those mesh well together.”

Toll scenarios range from $1.55 per crossing before the bridge is completed to $4.70 post completion. All scenarios assume a low-income toll program that will charge low-income drivers less.

Drivers will need to begin opening toll payment accounts and placing transponders in their vehicles, Brouwer said.

The project will take 15 years to build, Mabey said.

“It would take a lot less if we could actually close the interstate and build the whole program,” he said. “But when I asked (ODOT Director Kris Strickler) if we could do that, he said no, and he’s right. So, we need to maintain three through-lanes of traffic in each direction during construction to keep the goods and services and people moving through this corridor.”

The transportation officials sought to assure commissioners that the Trump administration remains committed to the project, for which grants were awarded under the Biden administration.

“What we have heard from this administration is a desire to get this project built and moving forward,” Mabey said. “We see that as a strong sign of support.”

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The Oregon Department of Transportation plans to toll every lane of every interstate in the Portland-metro area within a few years.

The first-in-the-nation regional tolling program would represent a sea change for Oregon drivers, who have paid for their roads via gas taxes. Yet with more-efficient vehicles cutting into gas tax revenue, the Legislature in 2017 authorized ODOT to study tolling. Now those plans are rapidly advancing as part of ODOT’s Regional Mobility Pricing Project.

“The Regional Mobility Pricing Project is a congestion pricing project – the first in the nation to toll all lanes of interstate,” said Lucinda Broussard, director of ODOT’s tolling program.

ODOT’s tolling plans – while not hidden – are perhaps not widely known. In a few years, Portland’s interstates may be ringed with tolls. They would greet commuters on Interstate 205 heading to jobs in Clackamas County as well as those coming from Vancouver, Washington, over the new Interstate Bridge (now in the works) to work in Portland. Amazon truck drivers zipping up from Woodburn would pay tolls, and so to would Intel and Nike employees who use Interstate 5 to get to Washington County.

Tolling could begin in late 2024 with I-205 likely first at the Abernethy Bridge, which links Oregon City and West Linn.

Tolls will reduce traffic while funding improvements – including the addition of a third lane to I-205 and seismic upgrades to the Abernethy Bridge, according to ODOT officials.

“It will not eradicate congestion, but it will smooth it out,” Broussard said.

To date, Oregon has few tolls. Drivers pay a $2 fee to cross the Bridge of the Gods between Oregon and Washington at Cascade Locks. (Motorcyclists pay $1 and multi-axle truck drivers pay more).

For generations, Oregon drivers have used interstates with no tolls, and instead paid far less visible gas taxes. If implemented, tolls risk a political backlash, according to some analysts and elected officials.

“Tolling is not popular on its own,” said John Horvick, senior vice president of DHM Research. “In Oregon, it’s a big change, right? People are not paying directly for the roads like that, so it’s a big change.”

Horvick has conducted dozens of focus groups over the years on transportation funding, including for ODOT. (Horvick said ODOT is not a current DHM client, and DHM has not conducted polls on the proposed tolls). He said voters in general have little understanding of how road construction and maintenance are funded.

“There’s just very low awareness of how transportation is funded at the state level or the local level,” Horvick said. “A sense of what things cost is extremely low as well. When you talk to people about public infrastructure – a bridge, a road – there’s just no conception of what that might cost.”

It’s a lot: about $4.5 billion for the Interstate Bridge Replacement Project, $1.2 billion for the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project and $500 million for the I-205 expansion. Gas tax revenue is not sufficient to cover the tab.

Drivers in much of the U.S., including Seattle, have grown accustomed to tolls, Horvick said.

“These are all solvable problems, but you’re starting from a difficult place,” he said.

ODOT has not said what tolls might cost – a crucial consideration for both revenue and congestion pricing. ODOT is currently modeling tolls, Broussard said. The Portland office of WSP, a Montreal-based engineering services firm, is conducting the modeling, based in part on Metro data.

A key consideration is how much revenue ODOT will need to pay off construction bonds for interstate mega-projects. If used to pay debts, tolls will be significantly higher, said Joe Cortright, a Portland economist who closely follows ODOT.

“There are basically two reasons that you want to toll a roadway: One is economic and one is financial,” he said. “The economic reason is if you charge road users a fee – particularly one that varies based on time and traffic – you can manage the roadway and make it work better. The financial reason is ODOT wants money.”

ODOT’s plans suggest the agency wants to move ahead on tolling before other interests find a use for that money, Cortright said.

“They’re staking their claim to highway tolling revenues up front,” he said. “That will effectively preclude other people from setting up other tolling or using tolling revenue for other purposes.”

The trucking industry is waiting for more details on ODOT’s tolling plans, said Jana Jarvis, president of Oregon Trucking Associations Inc. Jarvis took part in negotiations for House Bill 2017, and agreed at the time that tolling was needed.

“Since that time, ODOT has expanded their vision of what tolling is going to look like in the Portland region,” she said.

How ODOT prices and implements the tolls will be critical, Jarvis said.

“What those tolls will look like will be very important to the trucking industry, and I don’t know the details of that yet,” she said.

Trucking companies are keenly interested in easing congestion on I-5 and I-205, which rate among the worst bottlenecks in the U.S., Jarvis said. Expansions of both are among freight haulers’ high priorities, she added.

“The congestion costs a great deal of money to the trucking industry,” she said.

Local elected officials are concerned that tolls will divert drivers onto surface roads.

“Interstate traffic does not belong in our neighborhoods,” Clackamas County Commissioner Paul Savas said.

Savas said he has pleaded with ODOT to introduce its tolls simultaneously at every location.

“It’s very clear that’s not going to happen,” he said. “It’s very clear they’re going to toll this section (of I-205) first.”

The I-205 project has been in the works longer and will therefore be ready before others, Broussard said. The environmental analysis will identify “pinch points” and inform efforts to reduce traffic diversion, she added.

While many details of ODOT’s tolling program have not been decided, some aspects have become clear. Abernethy Bridge will go first, in the fourth quarter of 2024, Broussard said. The Oregon Transportation Commission will take up pricing about six months prior to that. ODOT will use overhead gantries, not toll booths, and automated payment systems will mean drivers will not have to stop to pay.

Public engagement on the tolling project will soon ramp up, with surveys and webinars coming in April, said Tia Williams, communications director for ODOT’s Urban Mobility Office.

ODOT officials said they are prepared to counter negative public opinion.

“Any time you place a toll anywhere, you should expect some backlash,” Broussard said. “I think that comes with the territory.”

The toll program also has supporters, Broussard said.

“There is support from different community organizations and others who see the congestion relief benefit,” she said.

Cortright said he’s concerned ODOT will issue bonds, locking itself into a legal agreement to repay the debt with toll revenue. That will in turn lead to higher toll prices, which will discourage traffic. The result will be state-of-the-art interstates that are largely empty.

“This isn’t conjecture,” he said. “We know this is how the world works: if you charge tolls, you’ll get less traffic.”

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