Tens of thousands of people use the Interstate 5 bridge every day. (Courtesy of Interstate Bridge Replacement Program)
Joe Kent doesn’t like how the project to replace the Interstate 5 bridge across the Columbia River is shaping up.
But can the Republican candidate for Congress do anything about it if he wins next month’s election?
Stopping the project is unlikely nor has he said he would try. But there’s potential for him to influence the scope and trajectory of the multi-billion dollar undertaking should he unseat Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez in their duel for the 3rd Congressional District seat.
Two years ago, he lost to Gluesenkamp Perez by 2,629 votes in the district that encompasses communities in the southwest corner of Washington. Its southern boundary is the Columbia River and includes Vancouver which is linked by the bridge to Portland.
The two are now in a heated rematch dubbed a toss-up by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. Replacement of the decades-old crossing, which experts say is at risk of collapse in a major earthquake, is an issue on which the two are sharply divided.
Gluesenkamp Perez wants it done and has helped secure federal grants totaling $2.1 billion. She has asked program administrators to do what they can to hold down construction costs and limit the need for tolling.
Kent opposes tolling and the planned inclusion of light rail. He doesn’t want the existing bridge torn down. It should be left and retrofitted for continued use, he says, and a new bridge constructed elsewhere across the Columbia River to give drivers additional options.
“Let’s build an actual third bridge that really actually reduces the amount of congestion that we have right now,” he said in a recent debate. “[Replacing] a three-lane bridge with a three-lane bridge, and light rail and tolls, that doesn’t work for anybody.”
Kent has not said what actions he’ll pursue to retool the project if elected. His campaign did not respond to questions for this story.
Democratic and Republican state lawmakers involved in tracking the project’s progress said the limited clout of freshman members would likely restrict Kent’s ability to disrupt much.
“He can certainly try. It’s unclear how much cache he will have. He may slow it down a second but I don’t know how as a freshman member he can stop or change the project in a negative way,” said state Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center. “To her credit [Gluesenkamp Perez] has spent a lot of time on the issues and squinted hard to make sure the project is doing what it needs to do.”
Circumstances are different than in 2014 when Washington and Oregon suspended the Columbia River Crossing project amid a lack of funding and a lot of community opposition led in part by Rivers and other southwest Washington state lawmakers.
“Can someone derail the whole project? You never say never,” said state Sen. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, chair of the Senate Transportation Committee. “We’re at a much, much farther point in the process. We definitely learned a lesson 12 years ago that extremist politics can impact these large projects.”
The road ahead
Project planners estimate the price tag for replacing the bridge will range from $5 billion to $7.5 billion, with a likely figure of around $6 billion. Permits are expected to be issued by 2026. Once rolling, construction is expected to last until 2032.
In addition to the federal grants, Washington and Oregon have committed about $1 billion each.
Tolls – which will be imposed in both directions on the existing bridge by 2026 – are counted on to raise at least $1.2 billion.
And planners are pursuing $1 billion from the Federal Transit Administration’s Capital Investment Grants Program to pay for a 1.9-mile light rail extension from North Portland to a future station near Evergreen Boulevard in Vancouver. A decision on that funding isn’t expected until the project is further along.
If the grant isn’t obtained, light rail’s inclusion in the project would be in jeopardy. State lawmakers and congressional employees familiar with the federal funding process acknowledge this is a place where a member of Congress can weigh in.
They can write a letter of support, or opposition, and encourage constituents with similar views to submit missives of their own. They can invite members of Congress and the transit agency to come to the district and hear from residents. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has come a couple times, including once at Gluesenkamp Perez’s invitation.
There’s also the budget process. Members can try to attach language and policies to the yearly appropriations bills or other legislative vehicles that could slow down pieces of the project that are still under review or in progress.
Congress approves annual funding levels for the Capital Investment Grants Program. Kent could seek to have fewer dollars placed in that bucket in hopes of driving light rail out of the project.
Earlier this year, House Republicans did propose an 82% cut in discretionary funding for Capital Investment Grants but the funding levels were restored in the final budget resolution. Had it happened, congressional staff say it would have slashed the flow of federal dollars to the Lynnwood Link extension of light rail service run by Sound Transit and possibly delayed its opening.
There’s even a scenario where Kent could try to persuade a future administration to rescind federal funding that’s already been secured. President Donald Trump rescinded roughly $1 billion in federal funding to California for its high-speed rail project in 2019, insisting the state had not met certain milestones to get the money. President Joe Biden restored it in 2021.
With the I-5 project, certain federal funds are set aside for the next two fiscal years and a hostile Congress could try to take back those dollars.
If Kent, who is backed by Trump, pushed in that direction, others in the Washington delegation would almost certainly resist.
“We have made tremendous progress securing massive federal investments to make this project a reality, but showing a united front from Congress to ensure that any future administration fulfills its obligations in a timely and responsible manner is critical,” said Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray in a statement.
Murray is chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and has played a key role in pressing to get the bridge replacement funded and completed.
Liias, forever the optimist, said if issues around light rail and funding surface, “we’ll work through those things in a bi-state way to get it done.”
“We are on a launch trajectory on this project,” he said. “I’m confident that we’re going to get it to the finish line.”
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