At a Multnomah County Board of Commissioners briefing, county transportation staff updated commissioners on the Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge project and said the project’s updated cost range is $1.6 billion to $1.8 billion, leaving a funding gap of about $860 million to $1 billion.

The project team told the board the increase from an earlier published estimate of about $895 million (from 2022) reflects more detailed design, rising material and labor costs, schedule changes and national market pressures. Staff also said a value-engineering process yielded about $160 million in savings while preserving project equity goals and minority/small-business contracting commitments.

John Hendrickson, transportation division director and county engineer, said the estimate covers all project phases — right-of-way, design, utilities and construction — and includes a 30% contingency and escalation to the midpoint of construction. “We had an estimated a cost of $895,000,000 which we published in 2022,” Hendrickson said, and staff now report an updated range of $1.6 to $1,800,000,000.

Emily Milich, engineering services manager, described the project team’s value-engineering work. “We generated over a 160 different value engineering ideas. Of those ideas, 24 of them we actually advanced to a concept level design and had them priced,” Milich said. She said the team studied lower-cost options and found the current design — after adjustments — remained the least-cost way to meet project goals. Milich said the studied ideas produced about $160 million in savings, primarily by simplifying the movable span and refining pier and column designs.

Megan Veil, an engineering services manager on the project, and Milich described specific design changes: shifting pier locations to reuse portions of existing foundations, changing column shapes for construction efficiency, reducing the number of operator/house structures from two to one, and removing an aesthetic seam in the inverted-Y east-span structure. Milich noted the team did not reduce scopes tied to small-business or disadvantaged-business-enterprise (DBE) requirements.

Staff outlined the project’s funding picture. Hendrickson said the county has secured about $740 million in funds or borrowing capacity for the project to date. That total includes roughly $58 million in vehicle registration fees already collected, a $10 million Metro regional flex funds grant, a $20 million state lottery bond appropriation, and $7 million in other federal grants and appropriations; staff also cited $385 million of anticipated capacity under a Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan and an estimated $260 million in vehicle-registration-fee revenue that could be applied during construction. Staff said a pending U.S. Department of Transportation Bridge Investment Program application seeks $447 million but cautioned the award is uncertain under current federal priorities.

Hendrickson said the county’s available funds and potential borrowing still leave an estimated funding shortfall of $860 million to $1 billion for a projected fall 2033 completion date, and that every year the project completion is delayed increases costs by an estimated $30 million to $50 million.

On schedule and next steps, staff said the county will continue design work through fiscal 2026 with a target of 60% design by May 2026, submit long-lead permits and land-use applications, document key design decisions and stakeholder agreements, and prepare a “pickup plan” in fiscal 2027 so the county can move quickly if full funding becomes available. Hendrickson said staff expect to finish the pickup-plan and price the 60% package and update the risk evaluation by January or February 2027. He said the county is pursuing funding but does not yet know when construction will begin.

Commissioners asked about the cost increase, market conditions and whether lower costs could be achieved if construction occurred during a regional downturn. Staff said market conditions are volatile, with nationwide increases in materials and competition for labor, and that there is no clear indication a slowdown will lower costs for this project. Commissioners and staff emphasized preserving workforce, equity and DBE goals; Commissioner Singleton asked specifically how value engineering preserved those commitments, and Milich said the county’s diversity manager reviewed proposed reductions and found none that would cut DBE or small-business opportunities.

Commissioners and staff also noted the project’s regional importance as a seismic lifeline route across the Willamette River and its potential economic impact for Portland and the state. Commissioners thanked staff and community volunteers for their participation in the design process and for the work done to keep the project construction-ready while pursuing federal, state and regional funding.

No formal action or vote was taken at the briefing. Staff said they will continue advancing design and permitting and will return with further updates as funding opportunities materialize.