Interstate 5

With significant cost increases on highway and bridge projects in recent years, lawmakers are facing a price tag ranging from $5 billion to $7.5 billion in order to fund the project to replace the I-5 bridge across the Columbia River. To help with the cost, Washington state is increasing the amount of toll revenue and is looking to the House Transportation Committee to get a funding bill through Congress.

If everything proceeds as expected, crews will begin construction on a new Interstate Bridge over the Columbia River in 2027, marking the end of decades of debate and frustration following a failed effort to replace the aging bridge between Vancouver and Portland more than a decade ago.

Oregon, Washington, and California were awarded $102 million in federal funds last week to install electric charging and hydrogen fueling stations for trucks along Interstate 5.

A coalition of advocacy groups say federal officials illegally glossed over major impacts the state's I-5 Rose Quarter project would have on its surroundings.

The grant is far and away the biggest yet for the megaproject. Planners have said a new cost estimate is expected this summer.

Oregon State Police Superintendent Casey Codding was among the troopers who responded after police in Oregon identified a former Washington state police and school resource officer who allegedly kidnapped his 1-year-old son and killed two women, including the child’s mother, in West Richland, Washington.

The designs are far from final, planners said.

Replacing the century-old bridge is expected to cost around $6 billion total. Planners overseeing the project are counting on $2.5 billion of that to come from federal grants.

A new map has stirred up past feelings for some Vancouver residents who remember how the Columbia River Crossing planned to demolish homes. Planners say nothing is final and the massive, years-long project has barely started design work.

The bridge as currently planned may not be high enough, planners said Friday. But planning for a lift doesn't mean the bridge will have one.