When will the I-5 bridge between Portland and Vancouver be unsafe to drive over? It should be a simple question, but when the politics of the new $3.6 billion Columbia River Crossing project come in, it’s not. Part of the justification for replacing the bridge with an expensive new span is that the current bridge is unsafe and could collapse.

Environmentalist Evan Manvel, who’s worked to stop the freeway expansion project through the group Coalition for a Livable Future, noted on Friday that an old report on the ODOT website said the bridge could last 60 years. When he tweeted at ODOT about the report, they first chastised him, then pulled down the report because it’s apparently inaccurate. Here’s the exchange:

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The Columbian newspaper talked about the issue with ODOT spokesman Don Hamilton, who says the report was pulled because it’s inaccurate, not because the state highway agency is trying to rewrite the past to match up with its current messaging, as Manvel alleges. From the article: “The bridge today is safe,” says Hamilton. “Whether it can stand the demands of the future and hold up to the congestion, hold up to the safety issues, and hold up to the demand issues that are going to be there is different. Keeping a bridge functioning is not the same as fixing the problems that are associated with it.”

Sarah Shay Mirk reported on transportation, sex and gender issues, and politics at the Mercury from 2008-2013. They have gone on to make many things, including countless comics and several books.

3 replies on “How Long Will the I-5 Bridge Last?”

  2. I can’t believe anyone still supports this giant shitwreck. None of the supposed “benefits” stand up to scrutiny: congestion stays the same or gets worse, instead of requiring bridge lifts, the un-liftable replacement is too low for a number of critical river users (like dredges), and with few drivers, the toll system will never break even.

    Can we just find out whose uncle stands to benefit and slip him a few $million so we can then save the few $billion?

    Thank gawd (and Chik-fil-atio) the next mayor isn’t a fan.

  3. ODOT gave no evidence the report was inaccurate – they simply stated it was inaccurate. Indeed, the evidence from various reports tends to back up the accuracy of the original report. The bridge is in better shape than many other I-5 bridges, according to ODOT’s Bridge Condition Report, and soforth. We’ve spent money maintaining those spans so they have some real life left in them.

    It’s the whole Orwell game. 2+2 now equals 5, not 4. They’re now claiming that it never was equal to four.

    And of course, the CRC highway mega-project doesn’t “fix the problems associated” with the area – its own Independent Review Panel and traffic modeling show it doesn’t fix congestion in the corridor without another $1 billion investment to the south (in fact, it moves it from the river to the heart of North Portland). And we don’t have that extra billion dollars.

    Finally, all this work recently is on my own, as a private citizen – I’m speaking only for myself.

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