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Program releases new $13.5–$15.2 billion cost range, targets 2028 bridge start and phased delivery
Summary
State transportation and program officials told the Interstate Bridge Replacement executive steering group they will pursue a phased delivery after a new risk‑based estimate put the full five‑mile corridor at $13.5–$15.2 billion, with a likely cost of $14.4 billion and a $450 million shortfall for the first bridge package.
State transportation officials on Wednesday presented a newly validated cost estimate for the Interstate Bridge Replacement program, outlined a phased path to construction and said the program will seek additional funding and cost‑saving measures to close a multi‑hundred‑million‑dollar gap in the first phase.
“We have 5 and a half billion dollars in available funding,” interim IVR program administrator Carly Francis said as she described the program’s core package: replacing the Columbia River bridges, connecting the new spans to I‑5, providing space for light rail and eventually removing the existing bridge.
That core package will be advanced as the initial, funded phase, Francis said. Alan Kiser, the program’s cost‑estimate risk lead, told the steering group the program’s new risk‑based estimate expresses a program range of $13,500,000,000 to $15,200,000,000 with a ‘‘likely’’ (70th percentile) cost of $14,400,000,000. Kiser said the later estimate reflects an 11‑year extension to the overall schedule, changes to bridge configuration and more detailed engineering and contract packaging.
Kiser explained that the 2026 estimate uses a program‑specific…
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