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Heading into the holidays, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is bringing help home – announcing a $600 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to replace the deteriorating I-5 bridge and continuing to deliver for Southwest Washington.
The reconstruction, which Gluesenkamp Perez has fought for since her first day in office, is one of the “most significant infrastructure projects” on the West Coast and will impact over 130,000 drivers every day, according to The Seattle Times.
Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez is continuing to deliver critical infrastructure where Washington’s communities need it most.
The Seattle Times: Feds pledge $600M for new I-5 bridge linking Washington and Oregon
Bill Lucia | December 18, 2023
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The federal government will plunk down more than a half-billion dollars to help cover the cost of replacing the Interstate 5 bridge across the Columbia River, between Washington and Oregon.
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A grant of $600 million will go to the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program, the entity overseeing the effort. It’s the first sizable slug of federal funding for what is one of the most significant infrastructure projects pending in the region and along the West Coast.
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Three Washington Democratic lawmakers — U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, and U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, whose district is on the Washington side of the bridge — announced the grant award on Friday.
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Work is already underway in areas like environmental evaluation, toll planning and design. Construction is anticipated to begin in late 2025 and to last until 2032.
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Nearly 132,000 vehicles, on average, traveled across the bridge each weekday in 2021, according to the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council.
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The grant dollars are from the federal Mega Grant Program, which funnels money to complex regional projects.
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Washington and Oregon have both committed about $1 billion to the bridge replacement and anticipate tolls will generate between $1.1 billion and $1.6 billion.
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Formal discussions and planning around replacing the bridge have gone on for about 20 years. But in recent months, lawmakers and others have become more optimistic that the project is headed toward construction as funding and support in both states is shored up.
KGW 8: Federal funding begins to flow to the Interstate Bridge replacement project with $600M grant
Anthony Macuk and Katherine Cook | December 15, 2023
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Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, joined by U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, said that the IBR project received the largest of 11 awards for projects across the country.
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“This Mega program award will be a major step forward toward strengthening the safety and efficiency of this vital interstate artery,” Gluesenkamp Perez said in a statement. “I’ll continue working to bring every possible federal dollar home for this project so our local drivers, especially our commuters, and economy can feel the benefits.”
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The Mega program was created by the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure package, which tasks the Department of Transportation with distributing $1 billion each year to large highway, bridge, rail or public transit projects for fiscal years 2022 through 2026.
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IBR’s $600 million award is among the largest given out by the Mega program so far; the biggest awards in 2022 were $292 million for Amtrak (split over four years) and $250 million for the Brent Spence Bridge over the Ohio River, which the IBR team has often cited as an example of a project that has a similar scope and is chasing the same federal funding sources.
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Washington and Oregon lawmakers had a hand in the creation of both it and the Mega program — the 2021 infrastructure bill incorporated earlier legislation co-authored by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Patty Murray (D-WA) to create the Bridge Investment Program, and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) wrote the Mega grant portion of the package.
Oregon Public Broadcasting: Effort to replace Interstate 5 Bridge gets $600 million from feds
Troy Brynelson | December 15, 2023
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It’s the first check the federal government has written for the project, but likely isn’t the last. To date, the only public cash has come from the states of Oregon and Washington, which have notably pledged $1 billion each.
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U.S. Sen. Patty Murray and U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, both Washington state Democrats, said landing the commitment pushes the project closer to breaking ground, which is expected in 2025.
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Freshman congresswoman Gluesenkamp Perez said she “pushed” transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in recent weeks to ensure the project received the money.
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“I’m excited these efforts have paid off,” Gluesenkamp Perez said. “From day one, it’s been my mission to bring our federal tax dollars back to Southwest Washington to replace the deteriorating, functionally obsolete I-5 bridge.”
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More federal funding could be on the horizon. The outcome of the project’s $1.5 billion grant application could be announced in the spring.
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