The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) broke ground on the first phase of the I-5 Rose Quarter project this week—an event nearly a decade in the making. But the occasion commenced without fanfare. Even after years of buildup for the project, ODOT didn’t hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark its official start, nor did the agency publicize the groundbreaking on social media. 

In January, when ODOT initially publicized its plans to begin construction on the Rose Quarter project, the agency announced plans for a “community groundbreaking celebration.” But the tone has changed since then. Rose Quarter project spokesperson Rose Gerber told the Mercury that ODOT made the decision to hold off on a groundbreaking ceremony in light of the agency’s current funding crisis, though she said the agency and its partners may “acknowledge the milestone” in a way yet to be determined. 

The groundbreaking comes amid a statewide transportation crisis, which could lead to hundreds of layoffs at ODOT, among other consequences. On Friday, August 29, state legislators will return to Salem for a special session focused on transportation funding, following their failure to pass a long-anticipated transportation package during their regular session earlier this year. 

Some lawmakers, wary of—or outright opposed to—the proposed tax increases included in the transportation funding bill, have raised concerns about ODOT’s fiscal stewardship throughout the legislative process. Public testimony about the funding proposal has reflected similar concerns, with some Oregonians targeting ODOT megaprojects, including the Rose Quarter project, as specific examples of how they believe the state is mismanaging the tax dollars it already has. 

Many people in favor of a transportation package are similarly uneasy about ODOT’s financial choices. But they say passing a funding bill is necessary in order to keep Oregon’s roads in order and our public transit systems afloat, among other priorities.

Whether or not lawmakers manage to pass a transportation funding package during the special session, it’s a tense time for the transportation department to begin work on the Rose Quarter project. Despite the agency’s financial precariousness, ODOT recently received the green light from the Oregon Transportation Commission to start initial construction on the plan. The agency is currently working on what it has dubbed phase 1A of the plan: a $75 million piece of the full, $2.1 billion Rose Quarter project puzzle. 

Phase 1A isn’t the most glamorous project, consisting of maintenance work including stormwater facility construction and seismic retrofits to two I-5 bridge structures. But ODOT says it’s necessary to complete the rest of the Rose Quarter plan, including the freeway expansion (which the agency says is necessary for congestion relief) and the cap construction (intended to reconnect the historically Black lower Albina district, which was bisected by I-5 construction in the 1960s). 

Some people have criticized ODOT for breaking ground on the project at all, considering the budget reality the agency faces. 

A piece of testimony submitted to the legislature by advocacy group Strong Towns PDX posits that it's "not possible to deliver on the promise of low taxes while retaining currently planned highway expansions, most notably the Rose Quarter."

“Cancelling unnecessary highway expansions is the single most fiscally responsible option the state has to reduce taxation burden for Oregonians while maintaining its existing transportation system," the testimony states.

In recent months, ODOT has faced a series of immense financial challenges, putting its plan to expand and cap I-5 through Portland’s Rose Quarter in serious jeopardy. The project suffered a major blow when the federal government rescinded more than $400 million in Biden-era grant funds, which ODOT intended to use to get capital construction underway. 

Oregon’s transportation agency has also been in a general freefall since the state legislature failed to pass a transportation funding package before their regular session adjourned in June. If legislators once again fail to pass a funding package, ODOT leaders say hundreds of its workers will face imminent layoffs, and it won’t have the budget to carry out basic transportation services. 

Acknowledging the funding crisis, Gerber emphasized that the funds still allocated to the Rose Quarter project can’t be redirected to a general transportation fund, saying ODOT isn’t legally allowed to use money dedicated to the project to prevent layoffs or help with other general fund needs. 

The Oregon Legislature did allocate dedicated funding to the Rose Quarter project back in 2017, when legislators passed the state’s last major transportation bill. But lawmakers have since given ODOT the authority to reallocate Rose Quarter funds to other projects, which it did in 2021 in order to fund construction on the I-205 Abernethy Bridge project. It may also be possible for the legislature to allow ODOT to use previously allocated funds for wider use. But ODOT leaders have remained determined to start initial work on the Rose Quarter project, even with the knowledge that there’s currently no viable path forward for the big-ticket parts of the plan. 

Legislators won’t be focused on the I-5 Rose Quarter plan during the upcoming special legislative session, and the project will remain economically imperiled regardless of the outcome in Salem. Still, whether or not legislators are in the mood to approve a major spending package could signal their openness to funding the remainder of the project in the future. 

ODOT has publicized the Rose Quarter project as an opportunity to right historical wrongs against Black Portlanders who lived and worked in the Albina neighborhood prior to a series of “urban renewal” projects in the area, including the original construction of I-5. In addition to the freeway caps, which ODOT says will reconnect the surface street network and allow for the revitalization of the Albina neighborhood, the agency has promised to prioritize hiring Black contractors to work on the project. 

Throughout the project’s recent ups and downs, Albina neighborhood advocates have remained dedicated to seeing the project through. Even now, when the outlook for the project appears so grim, they want to make sure the plan stays on state leaders' minds. 

“The I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project remains a central focus, not only of our organization, but of the central thrust of this state,” JT Flowers, director of government affairs at Albina Vision Trust, said during an August 25 hearing for the upcoming special legislative session. “As [Portland] seeks to repair our reputation nationally and re-anchor ourselves economically, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reinvigorate the economic heartbeat of Portland, Central City, and Oregon as a whole.”