ICYMI: Senator Murray Speaks on Senate Floor on $600 Million Mega Grant Award for I-5 Bridge Replacement — VIDEO HERE
ICYMI: Senator Murray Tours Aging I-5 Bridge, Discusses Mega Grant and Additional Federal Funding Opportunities for Interstate Bridge Replacement Project – MORE HERE
Sen. Murray has championed the I-5 Bridge Replacement project stretching back decades; Murray funded the Mega grant program in BIL and pushed Biden admin repeatedly on importance of project — MORE HERE
Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement ahead of Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg’s visit to the aging I-5 bridge. Senator Murray invited Secretary Buttigieg to see the I-5 bridge up close and personal but was unable to join him as she led the Senate in passing the national security supplemental package early this morning.
“I invited Secretary Buttigieg to see the I-5 bridge up close and personal because while all of the reports and data make clear that we needed to replace the I-5 bridge years ago, you’ve got to walk on the bridge to really get it,” said Senator Murray. “I wish I could have been there today, but I’m glad Secretary Buttigieg will see firsthand how important the I-5 bridge replacement project is to commuters, local small businesses and the entire economy.
“Mega funding was a huge step forward, but we need Secretary Buttigieg to help us finish the job,” continued Senator Murray. “I helped establish the Bridge Investment Program and fought to deliver strong funding for both the Bridge Investment Program and the Capital Investment Grants program; and as Senate Appropriations Chair, I want to make sure Southwest Washington sees its fair share of those federal dollars as we work to replace the I-5 bridge—this is a project that matters for the whole country.”
The Secretary’s visit comes after Senator Murray announced the $600 million federal Mega grant last December for the Interstate Bridge Replacement (IBR) program. On the heels of the Mega grant award, Senator Murray has reiterated the importance of additional federal funding for IBR from the Bridge Investment Program—a program Murray helped establish and fund in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law—as well as the Federal Transit Administration’s Capital Investment Grants Program, a program Murray works to fund every year.
Funding for the Department of Transportation’s Mega grant program—created as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law— comes from advance appropriations provisions that Senator Murray helped write into the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as a senior appropriator, providing $5 billion over five years for the Mega program. Murray’s longtime leadership on the I-5 Bridge Replacement Project—encompassing her time as the top Democrat on the Transportation Appropriations subcommittee—includes passing into law a provision updating the Federal Transit Administration’s evaluation process for multimodal projects like the I-5 Bridge Replacement to make them more competitive for federal funding; to this day the project is relying on the authorities Murray secured for the transit components of this project.
The I-5 bridge is a linchpin in both the regional and national economy and plays a vital role in transporting freight along the I-5 corridor. IBR reports that $132 million worth of freight crossed the I-5 bridge daily in 2020. According to the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council an average of 131,747 vehicles crossed the bridge each weekday in 2021, including many of the 65,000 Clark County residents who work in Oregon. Despite the bridge’s importance, it is rated the worst truck bottleneck in Washington and Oregon and the fifth-worst on the West Coast, with seven to 10 hours of slow-moving traffic during the morning and evening commute periods. Beyond this, there are significant issues with the aging bridge—one span is more than a century old and the other is more than 65 years old. Neither span has had a seismic retrofit, which is a significant concern in a region susceptible to earthquake activity: the entire structure is at risk of collapse in the event of a major earthquake.
A timeline of Senator Murray’s longtime leadership on the I-5 Bridge Replacement Project over more than two decades is HERE.
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