Columbia River Crossing

Columbia River Crossing
Conceptual illustration for a possible deck truss bridge, seen from the southeast
Carries	Interstate 5
Crosses	Columbia River
Locale	Oregon
Named for	Columbia River
Preceded by	Interstate Bridge
History
Construction cost	$175 million
Opened	Never opened

The Columbia River Crossing (CRC) was a joint freeway megaproject from 2005 to 2013 between Oregon and Washington, which proposed to widen and modernize Interstate 5 where it crossed the Columbia River. Central to this was the replacement of the Interstate Bridge, a pair of through-truss bridges. The northbound bridge dates to 1917, and its nearly identical companion was opened in 1958 to carry southbound traffic. The bridges, the earlier of which pre-dates the U.S. Highway System by nine years, served as the crossing for U.S. Route 99 before the establishment of the Interstate Highway System and Interstate 5 as the new route number. Each of the current bridges currently has three traffic lanes and no emergency lanes. Each bridge also has a vertical-lift draw bridge span on the Washington State side of the river to allow shipping traffic access upriver.

The CRC was intended to be a safer, more modern bridge, with greater capacity, including light rail to directly connect with the regional MAX system. It would also have replaced or modified seven freeway interchanges south of SR-500. "Project partners" included the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration, cities of Vancouver and Portland, the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council, Metro, and transit agencies C-Tran and TriMet. Other agencies were involved as part of "task forces," but the project was blocked July 2013 by Republican opposition within the Washington State Senate.