After more than twenty years of false starts, the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program is finally asking contractors to raise their hands. The bi-state program issued a request for qualifications on August 18 for the progressive design-builder on the first construction phase of the I-5 crossing between Portland and Vancouver. Statements of qualification are due September 30. A voluntary submitter meeting is set for August 25.
The nesting-doll cost structure is worth getting straight, because the numbers in circulation measure different things. The full corridor program, two new fixed spans plus a rebuild of five miles of interstate, is estimated at $14.4 billion. The bridge replacement itself is $7.8 billion. The contract now out to bid carries a value range of $3.3 billion to $3.9 billion. And roughly $5.7 billion in state contributions, federal grants and future tolling revenue is currently committed, which is what defines the first funded phase.
What they’re replacing
The existing crossing is two lift spans, built in 1917 and 1958, sitting on timber piles in sandy soil in a seismic zone. It carries more than 140,000 vehicles and $132 million in goods a day. The seismic vulnerability is not a theoretical concern — the structures were designed decades before anyone modeled a Cascadia subduction event.
Progressive design-build, and a deadline that isn’t negotiable
WSDOT administers the procurement in coordination with ODOT and chose progressive design-build for what it describes as greater cost certainty and transparent pricing. On a project with this much geotechnical and permitting risk, a lump-sum design-build would either price the unknowns punitively or generate claims. Progressive lets the owner and builder set price after the design matures.
The schedule is driven by something harder than preference: federal grant funding is forfeited if construction does not begin in 2026. The RFP follows in November, design-builder selection is expected mid-2027, and construction starts 2028. Which means whatever begins this year to satisfy the federal condition is early work, not the main package.
“We’re excited to engage with the construction industry as we move from planning to construction, and we look forward to identifying a partner who shares our commitment to delivering this generational investment safely, efficiently and on time,” said John White, WSDOT assistant secretary for urban mobility, access and megaprojects.
The RFQ follows FHWA and FTA issuing an amended record of decision in July, closing out NEPA after more than 9,000 public comments. Exchange also lists the earlier Interstate Bridge Replacement (I-5 Columbia River) project record.
Interim program administrator Carley Francis put it more plainly: “We now get to go do the work of actually building this bridge.” Two decades of studies say that sentence has been premature before. The September 30 deadline is the first hard test of whether it isn’t this time.