A recent funding allocation gives ODOT enough to start the long-awaited I-5 expansion—but the agency doesn’t have enough to finish the rest of the project. by Taylor Griggs Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) officials say after years of planning amid financial and political uncertainty, the state can finally begin work on its plan to expand and cap I-5 through Portland’s Rose Quarter next year.  But the agency is still hundreds of millions in the hole for the project, and its current construction plan doesn’t account for key pieces of infrastructure to reconnect the Albina neighborhood and improve safety on streets surrounding the freeway.  Last week, the Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC) voted to allocate $250 million to the Rose Quarter project. The $250 million, combined with a federal grant and other existing funding, means ODOT has a total of $850 million in its coffers for the Rose Quarter plan—enough to “begin construction and deliver many of the project’s most critical improvements.” ODOT leaders say construction will begin in summer 2025.  The path to get here has been a quagmire for the state agency. Just two months ago, ODOT was dealt a major blow when the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) rejected the state’s application for a $750 million federal grant for the Rose Quarter project. With the OTC’s allocation, ODOT’s projections for the future of the project are more optimistic—but the transportation department’s financial and political woes haven’t been alleviated.  ODOT’s plan for I-5 in the Rose Quarter, currently projected to cost between $1.5 and $1.9 billion in total, includes widening the north and southbound stretches of the freeway between the I-84 and I-405 interchanges, adding covers over I-5 to reconnect surface streets currently bisected by the freeway, and completing pedestrian and bike safety projects on local streets in the project area.  With the current funding available, ODOT can only complete a portion of those plans, and will need support from the state legislature to pay for the remaining project costs. This may prove tricky, as legislators grapple with paying for their constituents’ other transportation needs under a constrained budget.  ODOT’s latest construction plan has also raised concerns among advocates for the Albina neighborhood revitalization, who have partnered with the transportation department to raise critical funds for the project, and expect to see a significant return on investment. The plan to cap I-5 over the Rose Quarter will reconnect streets in the historically Black neighborhood, which was cut in half when the freeway was constructed in the 1960s. Though ODOT received a $450 million federal investment earlier this year to pay for the freeway caps, its current plan only funds a small segment.  Meanwhile, the freeway expansion continues to face backlash from environmental and street safety advocates who want to see less time and money allocated to increasing capacity for car traffic.  In other words: though the OTC’s funding allocation was a boon to the project, there’s still a long way to go.  Future of the freeway caps  With $850 million, the state transportation department says it can complete construction on widening southbound I-5 across the project area, adding an auxiliary lane and shoulders between I-405 and the Morrison Bridge exit, and begin work on widening the northbound area of the freeway from I-84 to north of Weidler. ODOT also plans to use the funds to widen the freeway bridge over NE Hassalo and Holladay streets and construct stormwater facilities near I-405. As far as the freeway caps are concerned, ODOT says it can currently afford construction of the “central core of the planned highway cover,” capping I-5 for roughly a block between NE Weidler and NE Broadway.  The bulk of the freeway cover–designed to span from just south of NE Weidler Street to northwest of North Flint Avenue–is unfunded. ODOT’s current project budget also can’t pay for construction of the NE Hancock Street crossing, the bike and pedestrian bridge over I-5 north of the Moda Center, or transportation safety projects on local streets on and near the freeway cover area, including the relocation of the I-5 southbound off-ramp.  During the public comment period ahead of the December 4 OTC meeting, several transportation advocates and project stakeholders shared their concerns about the funding allocation.  JT Flowers, director of government affairs and communications at Albina Vision Trust—a nonprofit dedicated to revitalizing the historically Black neighborhood— spoke about the importance of completing the project in its entirety.  Albina Vision Trust has been instrumental in persuading ODOT to incorporate freeway caps as a primary element of the Rose Quarter project, which has proven critical as the state works to secure financial and political support for the freeway expansion. Without the restorative justice element of the project, ODOT likely wouldn’t have support from the city of Portland, nor would it have received nearly half a billion in federal funding earlier this year.  “Sixty years after watching bulldozers turn home into heartache, that same community is singularly responsible for breathing life back into a project that was all but pulseless. We have fought tooth and nail for the recreation of eight acres of buildable land that will serve as the communal anchor point for the largest restorative development in American history,” Flowers said. “Any [funding] solution that tries to disentangle the delivery of a full cover from the broader project constitutes a betrayal to the very people this project purports to serve.”  Flowers said if ODOT only builds a “widened interstate accompanied by a fractional central portion of an otherwise unfunded highway cover, we will have failed ourselves, our community, and the state of Oregon.”  Environmental and transportation safety advocates have previously suggested ODOT decouple the freeway caps over I-5 from the expansion project, in order to save money and reduce the climate impact, while maintaining the Albina neighborhood reconnection plan.  Members of the group No More Freeways have led several lawsuits targeting the project, arguing it’s out of step with local and regional transportation and climate plans, and alleging federal officials didn't fully analyze the project's environmental impact. They say they have no plans to back down from their freeway fight now.  “ODOT continues to answer to freight and highway lobbyists demanding a blank check to spend billions of taxpayer dollars to double the width of I-5 and shove more asphalt, air pollution and traffic into the Albina neighborhood – and burden future generations with climate misery and decades of debt in the process,” a press release from No More Freeways states. “No More Freeways and our multiple lawsuits continue to stand in their way.”  In a press release after the OTC meeting, ODOT Director Kris Strickler said the agency “is committed to delivering this project in full,” and will work with state legislators in the upcoming session to “identify additional funding to finish the complete project.”  But some legislators are concerned about pouring so much money into just one project, as statewide transportation needs exceed the limited resources available to them.  Legislators weigh priorities  The Oregon Legislature is expected to pass a major transportation package in the 2025 legislative session. After touring the state to hear from Oregonians, members of the Joint Committee on Transportation reminded the OTC of its duty to spread transportation dollars to multiple regions, not just in Portland.  In public comments ahead of the December 4 OTC meeting, Representative Khanh Pham—a member of the Joint Committee on Transportation—said urban and rural Oregonians alike want better public transportation access, road maintenance, and improved safety on the streets.  “My job is to deliver basic transportation investments demanded by my constituents and by Oregonians across the state,” Pham said. “And that gets more difficult with every cost escalation on these freeway mega projects.”  Pham is a Democrat from Portland, but her concerns appear to echo across geography and the political spectrum. State Senator Suzanne Weber, a Republican who represents rural Northwest Oregon in the legislature, said in public testimony ahead of the December 4 meeting that her district “has a massive amount of transportation issues that cannot wait.”  The Rose Quarter project isn’t the only major infrastructure upgrade in the Portland region  getting priority. At the December 4 OTC meeting, commissioners also approved a plan to fill a funding gap in the I-205 Abernethy Bridge project. ODOT’s work to expand and make seismic improvements to the Abernethy Bridge is already underway, and the transportation agency recently projected the project will cost $815 million.  In order to pay for the work on two Portland-area freeways, ODOT will need to postpone several other bridge projects identified in the 2024-2027 Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP). One project likely to face delays is a $3.4 million plan to conduct bridge deck work on the US 101 Bridge over the Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad. The surface work would extend the bridge’s life, postponing a costly and time-consuming replacement project. But delaying the deck work will likely require the bridge to be replaced.  “I certainly do not oppose the Rose Quarter project in theory. However, I do strongly oppose ODOT’s attempt to sweep funds from other projects to pay for constant cost increases,” Weber said. “We cannot continue to see important projects to protect the very existence of rural highways delayed or canceled to pay for poor planning in urban areas.”