Sen. Murray has championed the I-5 Bridge Replacement project stretching back decades; helped establish and fund the Bridge Investment Program in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL); and pushed Biden admin repeatedly on importance of project — MORE HERE; VIDEO HERE of Senate Floor speech on IBR
Sen. Cantwell’s decades of support for the I-5 Bridge Replacement Project culminates in largest-ever federal transportation investment awarded in Washington state
ICYMI: Murray and Cantwell Tour Aging I-5 Bridge, Discusses Mega Grant and Additional Federal Funding Opportunities for Interstate Bridge Replacement Project—PHOTOS, B-ROLL HERE
Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), and U.S. Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D, WA-03) announced that the Interstate Bridge Replacement (IBR) Program—the organization tasked with replacing the I-5 Bridge connecting Portland and Southwest Washington—will receive $1.499 billion in federal funds from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bridge Investment Program (BIP), a grant program Senator Murray helped establish and fund in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. As chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Senator Cantwell led a letter to appropriators in the Senate Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development urging them to increase the funding available in the BIP program. Senator Murray led a letter of support to Secretary Pete Buttigieg alongside Senator Cantwell and Representative Gluesenkamp Perez in November of last year to make the delegation’s case for robust Bridge Investment Program funding.
The award follows a $600 million federal Mega grant award from a grant program authored by Senator Cantwell that the Members announced last December for IBR. Together, these awards bring the total federal investment in the bridge to $2.1 billion, roughly a third of the estimated project costs. In January, Senators Murray and Cantwell toured the I-5 bridge and hosted a roundtable discussion with Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle, and IBR partners and stakeholders on the path ahead for IBR following the Mega grant award. In February, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg visited the I-5 Bridge.
“This is a monumental win for Southwest Washington—now, with the biggest federal transportation award in Washington state history, replacing the I-5 Bridge is finally going to be a reality,” said Senator Murray. “Securing this award is a testament to the strength of our Washington state delegation—and the sheer determination of countless local leaders staying the course—and shows what a difference it makes when we are united in the Other Washington, fighting to bring these dollars home. The road to replacing the I-5 bridge has not been easy, but failing to replace this bridge has never been an option to me because I know how important this is to Southwest Washington—despite being a major thoroughfare, the current bridge is ancient, unsafe, and a major source of congestion for commuters and commerce. I’ve made clear time and again to Secretary Buttigieg and others that we cannot afford to forget about this project or kick the can down the road any further—I helped establish the Bridge Investment Program and delivered strong funding for it through appropriations, and as Senate Appropriations Chair, I have been fighting hard to make sure Southwest Washington sees its fair share of those federal dollars.”
“Replacing the century-old I-5 bridge over the Columbia River will not only relieve local congestion but drive economic growth across the entire West Coast,” said Senator Cantwell. “This third federal grant for the Interstate Replacement Bridge brings the project’s total funding to $2.1 billion—the largest federal transportation investment ever in the State of Washington. The project can now start hiring the construction companies and workers that will boost the local economy and build this vital interstate artery and make a decades-long dream a reality.”
“When we brought $600 million home to replace the deteriorating, functionally obsolete I-5 Bridge last year, I promised to keep fighting tooth and nail for every federal dollar possible. It’s the only way we get this colossal undertaking done – as well as ensure we feel the benefits of our tax dollars and avoid tolling,” said Representative Gluesenkamp Perez. “Today, we’re bringing back more than $1.4 billion for this project that’s critical for strengthening our local economy, honoring the trades, and keeping drivers, commuters, and truckers safe and on the move. I brought Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to the bridge to show him the dire need for replacement firsthand, as well as stressing the importance of this Bridge Investment Program grant whenever we spoke. We’re now one major step closer to getting the I-5 Bridge replaced and powering good, family-wage trades jobs in Southwest Washington.”
The I-5 bridge is a linchpin in both the regional and national economy and plays a vital role in transporting freight along the I-5 corridor. IBR reports that $132 million worth of freight crossed the I-5 bridge daily in 2020. According to the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council an average of 131,747 vehicles crossed the bridge each weekday in 2021, including many of the 65,000 Clark County residents who work in Oregon. Despite the bridge’s importance, it is rated the worst truck bottleneck in Washington and Oregon and the fifth-worst on the West Coast, with seven to 10 hours of slow-moving traffic during the morning and evening commute periods. Beyond this, there are significant issues with the aging bridge—one span is more than a century old and the other is more than 65 years old. Neither span has had a seismic retrofit, which is a significant concern in a region susceptible to earthquake activity: the entire structure is at risk of collapse in the event of a major earthquake.
Funding for the Department of Transportation’s Bridge Investment Program—created as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law—comes from advance appropriations provisions that Senator Murray helped write into the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as a senior appropriator, providing $9.235 billion over five years, and the Highway Trust Fund, providing $3.265 billion over five years—for a total of $12.5 billion over five years for the for the Bridge Investment Program.
Murray’s longtime leadership on the I-5 Bridge Replacement Project—encompassing her time as the top Democrat on the Transportation Appropriations subcommittee—includes passing into law a provision updating the Federal Transit Administration’s evaluation process for multimodal projects like the I-5 Bridge Replacement to make them more competitive for federal funding; to this day the project is relying on the authorities Murray secured for the transit components of this project. A timeline of Senator Murray’s longtime leadership on the I-5 Bridge Replacement Project over more than two decades is HERE. In December, after the $600 Mega Grant award for IBR, Senator Murray spoke on the Senate floor about the long fight to replace the I-5 Bridge—VIDEO HERE.
As chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Senator Cantwell has worked to dedicate more dollars to the BIP — earlier this year, Senator Cantwell led her colleagues in sending a letter to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation and Urban Development urging support for an additional $2 billion for BIP in the FY 2025 Appropriations Bill. In December 2023, the I-5 Bridge project was awarded the then-largest-ever grant through the National Infrastructure Project Assistance program, or Mega program, which was created by Senator Cantwell with the I-5 bridge in mind.
In February, Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez visited the I-5 Bridge with Secretary Buttigieg and met with union members, apprentices, and students in the trades – who will work on local projects like the I-5 Bridge replacement project. She has spoken directly with Secretary Buttigieg to advocate for the Bridge Investment Program funding and hosted White House Infrastructure Implementation Coordinator Mitch Landrieu to underscore the urgent need for funding to help replace the I-5 Bridge.
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