News

ODOT’s I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project Moves Closer to Construction with Key Metro Vote

I-5 Rose Quarter Project Director Megan Channell and HAAB Facilitator Ericka Warren listen as JT Flowers (AVT, HAAB) testifies to Metro Council during the meeting on August 1st. Metro Council unanimously agreed to approve spending of the recent USDOT Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program federal grant award of $450 million.

For more information, please contact Rose Gerber, 503-779-6927, Rose.Gerber@odot.oregon.gov.

PORTLAND—The I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project moved closer to reconnecting the historic Albina community with today’s unanimous vote to approve the use of a federal grant to complete design and initiate construction of a cover over Interstate 5 (I-5).

Metro Council unanimously agreed to approve the spending of the recent U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program federal grant award of $450 million, the largest Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program federal grant awarded to any project of its kind in the nation. The funds allow ODOT to complete the design and construct the central segment of the cover around Broadway-Weidler to support reconnection for the Albina community.

Metro Councilor Juan Carlos González has highlighted the community-centered approach to the project, “Our region has really come together on a project that is a once in a generation opportunity to achieve so many of our regional goals. To have government working with community in this fashion I think is a model that we should continue to focus on, lean on and will help us accelerate toward our goals in unimaginable ways.”

This funding is dedicated to construction of the first portion of the planned highway cover that will reconnect the historic Albina neighborhood. The Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program (MTIP) approval came with regional consensus with partners and community leaders looking forward to seeing the project delivered to the community. In addition to addressing the state’s top bottleneck and high crash rates, project benefits include the promotion of diverse business and workforce participation, the reconnecting of the historic Albina neighborhood street network and future community development on the highway cover.

ODOT’s Urban Mobility Office Director Brendan Finn said, “ODOT would not be here without the leadership of the Historic Albina Advisory Board (HAAB) and partnership of Albina Vision Trust (AVT). The project received the funding because it fits into the larger restorative vision for the district.” Project partners and community leaders like the HAAB, AVT, Rip City Management/Portland Trailblazers, City of Portland, Metro and Oregon Transportation Commission helped lead the request for this investment.

HAAB Member Bryson Davis said, “This project has the chance to rebuild an entire neighborhood to repair historic damage in a way that can be the lodestar for the rest of the country to address these issues, and to repair their communities that have suffered the same injustices."

AVT Government Affairs and Communications Director JT Flowers described what the project means for the larger planning for the district, “We are talking about restoring a zip code, a neighborhood from the ground up. And that is not possible in any way, shape or form without us fundamentally changing the built infrastructure of the place, specifically as it pertains to transportation. The highway cover will not only reconnect Albina, it will transform what is possible for our children and their children after them."

The $450 million Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program federal grant fully funds the first phase of construction of the highway cover. The funding will be used to construct the initial, central portion of the highway cover component to the project. The central portion of the highway cover, between approximately Weidler and Broadway over I-5, would be built to be compatible with future phases of the highway cover construction and I-5 mainline improvements under the highway cover.

ODOT will now move to execute the grant agreement with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The Rose Quarter Project also applied for a Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight and Highway Project program, Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant and anticipates an announcement in early fall.