PORTLAND, Ore. — Construction on a new Interstate 5 Bridge over the Columbia River could start in a little over two years if the project planners are able to stick to their preferred timeline; and it turns out those next couple of years might also be the last time Portland and Vancouver drivers can hop across the river on I-5 for free.
Right around two years from now, drivers will probably start to notice overhead tolling cameras as they drive across the current twin bridges — and a few months after that, the cameras will go live and start issuing tolls.
The Interstate Bridge Replacement project is tentatively planned to start construction in late 2025 or early 2026 and wrap up about eight years later in 2033. Tolling has always been planned to cover at least $1 billion of the megaproject's estimated $6 billion cost, but the project team confirmed earlier this year that the tolls won't wait until the new crossing is finished — they're going to start being collected on the current twin bridges while the new ones are still being built.
A lot of pieces have to line up in the next two years to keep that schedule, including landing more than $2.5 billion in federal grants, finishing the federal environmental review process and getting a green light from regulators, and securing approval from the U.S. Coast Guard, which has so far been skeptical about whether the current proposed design is high enough for big river traffic.
Like all of these other pieces, the tolling plan is tentative, but at an Executive Steering Group meeting on Wednesday, project staff laid out their vision for how they hope the process will play out.
IBR program administrator Greg Johnson and design manager Shilpa Mallem were guests on this week's episode of Straight Talk to discuss the overall status of the project, including the team's efforts to keep equity and environmental concerns front and center as the bridge goes through the design process.
They also talked about what Portlanders can expect to see next from the project, such as more detailed design renderings by the end of the year and a draft environmental impact statement put out for public comment early next year.
Tolling timeline
The tolling plan starts in mid-to-late 2025, when the Oregon and Washington Transportation Commissions are expected to jointly issue a final decision about how much the tolls will cost, as well as set other policies like hours of operation and possible discounts or exemptions such as a low-income toll program.
Tolling will begin about six to eight months after the commissions make their decision — most likely in the spring of 2026, according to the project team. Tolling gantries — the overhead structures across the freeway that hold tolling cameras — are also expected to be installed on the current I-5 bridges starting in late 2025.
"We know that tolling is never a popular issue, but everyone realizes that it is a necessary step in the funding package to get this done," Johnson said during Wednesday's meeting.
Much like with the planned tolls on I-5 and Interstate 205 in the Portland metro area, drivers won't have to stop at a tollbooth— the cameras will detect transponders on cars or take pictures of license plates as vehicles go by, either billing the cost to a driver's established account or issuing them a bill in the mail.
Because of those other tolling projects, the interstate bridge team has decided that Oregon alone should handle toll collection on the bridge on behalf of both states, staff said, so that the collection system can be integrated with the system used for other tolls in the Portland metro area.
Those other Portland freeway toll plans have been controversial, and Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek hit the pause button earlier this year, putting a moratorium on new tolls in the state through the end of 2025. The order had a specific exemption for the I-5 bridge, but the project planners said it doesn't impact them either way, since they don't plan to start tolling until 2026.
Tolling costs
The big question is how much the bridge tolls are going to cost. There still isn't a precise number, but Johnson told KGW in January that his team was using a placeholder range of $2-4 for early planning. At Wednesday's meeting, the team said it had completed a more in-depth traffic and tolling study that looked at seven different toll rate scenarios, narrowing the range down a little more.
"The rates that they studied were in the $1.50 to $3.55 [range]," said assistant program administrator Ray Mabey.
The scenarios are all variable rate schemes, which means the toll amounts would change depending on the time of day, with higher prices at rush hour and lower prices during the off hours, similar to the plan for congestion pricing on other Portland freeways. Mallem also clarified on Straight Talk that the tolls will be on a consistent schedule won't change based on real-time traffic conditions.
"You'll know before you head out to the bridge what the toll is going to be," she explained. "It's going to be different during congested periods versus off-peak, middle-of-the-night conditions. But you wont be surprised. You won't have to go under the bridge (cameras) and then realize what the toll price is."
Some of the scenarios looked into hiking the tolls by an additional 2.15% each year to keep up with inflation, according to project staff at the meeting, and some of the scenarios also considered the impacts of a possible low-income toll program and other Portland-area tolls.
There's a more detailed study still to come, and the final decision rests with the state transportation commissions, who could wind up setting completely different rates — but Mabey said the work so far seems to support the $1.50-3.55 range.
"As we looked at all these different components ... our real goal was to make sure that we had enough net revenue, necessary to help fill out and complement the finance plan," he said. "And we did confirm that, that we believe we can get that net revenue, and I think we were targeting $1.24 billion."