The agency plans to begin construction on the Rose Quarter project this summer, but doesn’t have the funding for the entire $1.5-1.9 billion plan. by Taylor Griggs The Metro Council voted on April 1 to move the Oregon Department o f Transportation’s (ODOT) I-5 Rose Quarter plan forward, approving $250 million in additional funding for the freeway expansion project. Most members of the Council agreed that while the project may have its flaws, those are outweighed by its potential community development and economic benefits.  But not everyone on the Council agreed. Councilors Duncan Hwang and Mary Nolan said they couldn’t vote to support the project, citing concerns over fiscal responsibility and a lack of certainty in ODOT’s ability to build freeway caps over I-5 that would support new development in Portland’s Albina neighborhood. Ultimately, the amendment passed 5-1-0, with Nolan voting no, and Hwang abstaining.  Councilor Ashton Simpson said the project represents more than “traffic congestion and infrastructure.” “It’s about righting a historical wrong, prioritizing racial justice, and investing in economic opportunities for the communities most impacted, particularly the Black community of Portland,” Simpson said. “It’s not perfect—no project of this scale ever is. It is progress…Doing nothing is not an option.”  Other members of the Council were also eager to take action on the long-awaited project.  “This is something we've been talking about since 2017,” Councilor Christine Lewis said. “If we are going to move forward as a partner, working on big things for the state, this is the exact moment we have to move forward.”  Councilor Juan Carlos González said he thought it was important to vote “yes” in order to “send a message to Salem and DC that this region can and will build big, beautiful things.”  According to Metro Council President Lynn Peterson, ODOT’s proposal to expand I-5 is more reasonable than what other transportation departments might suggest.  “Just let that sink in. Any normal DOT engineer would propose nine lanes in each direction at this spot,” Peterson said. She called ODOT’s proposed expansion, which includes an extra auxiliary lane in each direction and widened freeway shoulders, a “tweak.”  Some advocates have previously said ODOT’s supposedly conservative expansion plans are anything but. According to Joe Cortright, ODOT watchdog and co-founder of the group No More Freeways, ODOT records show the agency actually plans to double or triple the width of the freeway, leaving room to add more lanes in the future. At a March 27 Metro meeting, a representative from ODOT denied that the agency has plans to include additional lanes on that stretch of I-5.  Hwang and Nolan were dubious of their colleagues’ reasoning. Nolan gave a particularly withering speech, expressing their doubt that the freeway caps will be completed, and predicting the freeway expansion won’t solve congestion on I-5.  “I think that is the most likely scenario now with respect to federal funding,” Nolan said. “This project will instead bring net harm to both through traffic and adjacent neighborhoods.”  Nolan said they found it ironic that the project “pretends to repair past harms to the Black community” created by construction of I-5 in the 1960s, by suggesting the solution is more highway construction. Nolan also said they couldn’t support a project that “commits money that is not currently available and not contractually obligated to the project or to the region.”  A statement from No More Freeways after Tuesday’s vote called Metro’s decision “financially reckless,” noting ODOT’s ongoing revenue crisis that has the agency struggling to meet the state’s basic transportation needs. “This proposed freeway expansion has suffered from gargantuan cost overruns at a time in which the Portland region and the State of Oregon are struggling to raise the significant revenue necessary just to maintain our existing roads, bridges and transit service,” the statement said. “We remain committed to stopping this megaproject from bankrupting the state and clogging North Portland with more traffic and air pollution.”  ...read more read less