Advocates hope the financial quandary will prompt ODOT to rethink the scale of the I-5 project through central Portland. by Taylor Griggs Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) officials say the state transportation department didn’t receive a coveted $750 million federal Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant it hoped would help fund its plan to expand and cap I-5 through Portland’s Rose Quarter.  While ODOT leaders say they’ll seek other means of funding for the entire Rose Quarter plan, which is currently estimated to cost between $1.5 and $1.9 billion, news of the rejection comes at a tough time for the state transportation department. ODOT has been dealing with a revenue crisis for years and is struggling to balance the state’s basic transportation needs with plans for expensive capital projects in the Portland metro area.  Freeway expansion opponents, who urged the US Department of Transportation to reject ODOT’s grant application, hope the news will encourage transportation leaders and state legislators to rethink the scale of the project. Without the $750 million federal grant, critics say ODOT won’t be able to fund the plan without taking critical resources away from other parts of the state. And while it’s unclear why the federal transportation agency rejected ODOT’s application, freeway expansion opponents are taking the news as a sign of the federal government’s priorities—and urge the state to follow suit.  ODOT’s Rose Quarter project consists of two major components: widening the freeway and covering it. ODOT says its plan to expand the freeway using “ramp-to-ramp connections,” or auxiliary lanes, on I-5 between I-84 and I-405 will relieve congestion in the area. The second part of the project is the plan to cap the freeway for several blocks north of the Moda Center and reconnect surface streets in the historically Black Albina neighborhood, which was bisected by I-5 construction in the 1960s.  Proponents of the I-5 expansion say the project will create jobs, specifically for minority-owned contractors, revitalize the Albina neighborhood, and improve traffic congestion through central Portland.  Opponents of the freeway expansion say the two parts of the plan counteract each other. They encourage ODOT to build the freeway covers to reconnect the Albina neighborhood, but nix the added lanes, which they say will induce traffic demand over time and be environmentally damaging with minimal short-term congestion relief benefits.  While ODOT didn’t receive the $750 million INFRA grant, the department did receive a $450 million grant earlier this year to pay for the design completion and initial construction of the freeway cover. An October 18 press release from transportation advocacy organization No More Freeways says the federal government has shown through its funding decisions that it “supports repairing the damage done to Albina,” but “isn’t going to foot the bill for a massively widened freeway.”  Rose Gerber, public outreach and media manager for the Rose Quarter project, told the Mercury ODOT is “committed to delivering this project to the community and promoting diverse business and workforce participation.” Gerber said the $450 million federal grant ODOT received earlier this year will allow the agency to “begin partially constructing the highway cover by 2027 with an eye toward completing the project as additional funding is secured.”  “Next steps include applying for future federal grants and exploring other funding opportunities,” Gerber said, noting ODOT will work with legislators to try to get additional money for the project in 2025. Federal grants are one of the main levers ODOT has to fund its major capital projects, especially since Governor Tina Kotek ordered ODOT to put the kibosh on plans to toll drivers on I-5 and I-205 in the Portland area. Without the INFRA grant, ODOT will be more reliant on state legislators to find the funding during the upcoming 2025 legislative session to cover a $900 million gap for the Rose Quarter project. Transportation advocates say that’s not a priority for most Oregonians, and it puts legislators in a tricky position.  “Next year, the Oregon legislature will be facing a massive unpaid bill as our statewide transportation system is suffering from decades of disinvestment and neglect, with no easy answers on how to find the votes to raise the taxes to pay for it,” Joe Cortright, economist and No More Freeways co-founder, said in the press release. “Without this federal grant, it’d be even more irresponsible for legislators to allocate an additional $900 million to pay for this polluting, bloated highway expansion when Oregon has alarmingly critical investment needs for statewide bridge repair, safety improvements and transit needs.” Representative Khanh Pham, who serves on the Oregon legislature’s Joint Committee on Transportation, told the Mercury the “Oregon legislature is going to have to make some tough choices this upcoming session.”  “We have critical budget shortfalls to fix pothole-filled roads and bridges, fund Safe Routes to School, and much more,” Pham said. “I don’t know how we can pay for those critical needs in both urban and rural communities without right-sizing these massive Portland-area megaprojects.”