Opinion: IBR team hasn’t ‘right-sized’ the project, they’ve just hidden full commitment
Joe Cortright
BikePortland 3/19/26
The Interstate Bridge Replacement Program (IBR) has finally released the cost estimates it’s been promising for more than two years — and the numbers confirm what we’ve been saying since January: this project has more than doubled in cost, from $6 billion to as much as $15.2 billion.
The spin merchants who work for the IBR have packaged the increase as much smaller, claiming that they’re going to just build the “core elements” of the project. That’s led some in the media — including, unfortunately, BikePortland — to report the project is being “right-sized.”
That’s simply not true: IBR is stretching out the project (through the 2040s), but has actually said nothing about giving up on the whole boondoggle, including widening five miles of freeway and building seven intersections. And the way they’ve designed the project, once you start, we’ll have no option to say “no” later on...
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