Interstate Bridge


The Interstate Bridge is a pair of nearly identical steel vertical-lift, "Parker type" through-truss bridges that carry Interstate 5 traffic over the Columbia River between Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon in the United States.
The bridge opened to traffic in 1917 as a single bridge carrying two-way traffic. A second, twin bridge opened in 1958 with each bridge carrying one-way traffic. The original 1917 structure is the northbound bridge. As of 2006, the bridge pair handles around 130,000 vehicles daily. The green structure, which is over long, carries traffic over three northbound lanes and three southbound lanes. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, as the "Portland–Vancouver Highway Bridge".
Since 2005, proposals for replacing the bridge have been produced and debated. The bridge is considered responsible for traffic congestion of road vehicles and river traffic. Plans for a replacement bridge, known as the Columbia River Crossing project, estimated to cost at least $3.4 billion, had come together by 2012 after many delays, but were very controversial, with both strong support and strong opposition. In late June 2013, the CRC project was canceled, after the Washington state legislature declined to authorize funding for the project.
The Interstate Bridge's name is a simple descriptive one based on its location, as a bridge connecting two states. In 1917, the new bridge gave its name to a Portland arterial street. Shortly before the bridge opened, a pair of streets through North Portland that were planned to be treated as the main route to and from the bridge, Maryland Avenue and Patton Avenue, were renamed Interstate Avenue.

First bridge

The bridge was built to replace an overcrowded ferry system operated by Pacific Railway, Light & Power Co. Construction on the bridge began in March 1915, following the sale of bonds. The first bridge was opened on February 14, 1917 at a cost of $1.75 million, which was shared between Clark County and Multnomah County. Clark County paid $500,000 and Multnomah County $1.25 million—probably proportional to population.
The first bridge has a total of 13 steel spans, with three measuring in length and the remaining ten spans each. Piers sit atop pile caps on wooden pilings approximately 70 feet deep. One of the spans is the lift span for allowing river traffic under the bridge. The lift span is capable of moving vertically, and provides of clearance below when fully raised. The towers are
tall, above the roadway.
The original paved roadway was wide and had a wide sidewalk. It was the first automobile bridge across the river between Washington and Oregon, and the second to span the river at all, after the Wenatchee Bridge of 1908. It was originally a toll bridge costing 5¢ per vehicle or per horse and rider, equivalent to $ in. In 1928 the states of Washington and Oregon jointly purchased the bridge from the counties and discontinued tolling the following year.
Electric streetcars operated across the bridge from opening day in 1917 until 1940. The bridge's deck carried dual gauge track, to accommodate both Vancouver's standard gauge cars and Portland's gauge cars. Before the bridge, Portland had had a Vancouver streetcar line since 1893, but it ran to Hayden Island, where passengers transferred to a ferry owned by the street railway company to continue across the river to Vancouver. Streetcar service across the Interstate Bridge ended on September 3, 1940.
The bridge became part of then-new Interstate 5 in 1957.

Upgrades

In 1958, a $14.5 million upgrade created a second, almost identical span and doubled the capacity of the bridge. The new bridge was built with a "humpback" that provides of vertical clearance and minimizes bridge openings. Construction began in summer 1956, and the new, parallel bridge opened to traffic on July 1, 1958.
At the time the new bridge was opened, the old one was temporarily closed for rebuilding to give it a matching humpback section. When both bridges were first open concurrently, on January 8, 1960, each bridge became one-way and tolls were reinstated at $0.20 for cars, $0.40 for light trucks, and $0.60 for heavy trucks and buses, until removed in 1966 after the construction expenses were paid off.
A $3 million upgrade to the lift cables, expansion joints, and a deck repaving was completed in 1990. The diesel generator used to power the lift was replaced in 1995 at a cost of $150,000. In 1999, the bridge was repainted at a cost of $17 million. A $10.8 million electrical upgrade was completed in mid-May 2005.
The bridge is long with a main span of. The vertical lift provides of river clearance when fully opened. Openings last about ten minutes and occur between 20 and 30 times per month.
Outside peak commuting times, marine traffic is granted right of way at the bridge by federal law.
In 2006, the six total lanes of the bridges carried 130,000 vehicles daily. Full traffic capacity occurs four hours every day.

Replacement planning

Columbia River Crossing (2005–2013)

The bridge is frequently a bottleneck which impacts both traffic on the freeway, as well as on the river. The Oregon and Washington transportation departments are jointly studying how to replace the bridge. Both spans have been rated as "functionally obsolete," with sufficiency ratings of 18.3% and 49.4% for the original and second spans, respectively.
Initially, the estimated cost for a replacement bridge was around $2 billion, but that number has climbed steadily to around $3.4 billion. An independent study in 2010 estimated the full cost to be closer to $10 billion.
Design of a replacement is complicated by the existence of a railroad drawbridge crossing the Columbia a short distance downriver, which constrains the location of the shipping channel; and by approach paths to Portland International Airport in Portland and to Pearson Field in Vancouver, which limit the height of any new structure. Some have proposed replacing the bridge in a different location. There were originally 12 transportation plans that were being studied to improve and expand the Interstate 5 crossing of the Columbia River. In late 2006, four of these plans were selected for a final proposal, along with a fifth no-build option. The Columbia River Crossing project's six local partner agencies selected a replacement I-5 bridge and light rail extension to Clark College as the project's Locally Preferred Alternative in 2008.
There is also a longstanding debate as to whether or not a new bridge would include a MAX Light Rail line, express buses, or bus rapid transit. During his 2007 "State of the City" address, Vancouver mayor Royce Pollard stated
In December 2007, Oregon governor Ted Kulongoski advocated for a new bridge, publicly endorsing the Oregon Business Plan's proposal.
In 2008, as fuel prices increased and project cost estimates soared, many in the area began questioning whether the project is worth the costs. In addition, many on the Portland side of the river fear that a 12-lane highway bridge to Vancouver, which many also believe has virtually no land use restrictions, will encourage suburban sprawl and development north of the river.
Further concerns over the 12-lane "Columbia River Crossing" proposal include its failure to examine critical environmental impacts, such as damage to Clark County's drinking water supply, endangered fish habitat in the Columbia, and air pollution in North Portland.
In 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency found that the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the CRC had failed to adequately cover these issues, as well as the potential induced demand for suburban sprawl. In a letter to CRC planners, the EPA wrote that "There was no indication of how these vulnerable populations might be impacted by air pollution, noise, diesel construction vehicles and increased traffic", referring to minority communities in North Portland.
In June 2013, the Washington Legislature voted against further funding of the CRC. On June 29, Oregon Governor Kitzhaber directed the CRC to shut down operations.

Interstate Bridge Replacement Program (2019–present)

The relaunched Interstate Bridge Replacement Program is a joint effort between ODOT, WSDOT, Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration, Metro, Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council, the cities of Portland and Vancouver, the Port of Portland, and the Port of Vancouver USA.
The Joint Oregon-Washington Legislative Action Committee was formed by the Washington legislature in 2017 to study a bridge replacement, but initially had no Oregon representation for a year. The new committee was formed to prevent $140 million in federal funding allocated for the CRC from being recalled after a deadline, which was extended to 2025. In April 2019, the Washington legislature approved $17.5 million to establish a project office to conduct pre-design and planning work, which was followed by a matching contribution from the Oregon Transportation Commission in August.
A new timeline for the project, with the start of environmental review in 2020 and construction by 2025, was approved by the joint committee in late 2019. The replacement bridge's design is unspecified, with discussions about the inclusion of light rail, lane configurations, and investigating a third crossing all under consideration. Former Michigan Department of Transportation deputy director Greg Johnson was appointed as the bridge program administrator in June 2020.