Clark County Today Editor Ken Vance reacts to WSDOT Secretary Julie Meredith’s comments to the House Transportation Committee

Ken Vance, editor
Clark County Today

Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Secretary Julie Meredith provided a briefing to the House Transportation Committee this week and in her overview she told lawmakers the mission of WSDOT’s 7,700 employees is safe, reliable, cost-effective transportation across all modes statewide.

Meredith and I obviously have very different definitions for the term cost-effective.

It wasn’t surprising that Meredith continued to champion the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program (IBR) and its proposed I-5 Bridge replacement project. After all, it is now clear that both the IBR and the I-5 Bridge project are being orchestrated by the DOTs from Washington and Oregon. WSDOT’s Southwest Washington Region Administrator Carley Francis recently took over as IBR administrator after Greg Johnson jumped off the sinking ship.

At the briefing, Meredith was asked by Rep. John Ley about last week’s report which revealed that the new cost estimate of the I-5 Bridge replacement project was as high as $17.7 billion and likely to cost taxpayers at least $13.6 billion. Veteran journalist Nigel Jaquiss, of the Oregon Journalism Project, revealed that IBR officials have had documents providing the new cost estimates since last fall but had continued to deny the existence of any new projections.

Rep. Ley: “You mentioned the I-5 Interstate Bridge and roughly a week ago, it was revealed cost estimates have ballooned on the order of $10 billion, potentially $12 billion if we have to build a lift span. Could you share your thoughts on how we address such a significant funding shortfall?”

Secretary Meredith: “I can’t agree with the article and how it came out. I will say that it’s a complicated and a long process to complete the cost. Estimating for a program such as the IBR, and we’re still doing that. So I appreciate that. I have worked on mega programs now for more than 20 years. Almost 30 if you want to be accurate. None of those programs got full funding at the start. Not one of them. And yet the Alaskan Way Viaduct just opened its final segment this last summer. We’re working on the last piece of the (Highway) 520 program. And in a year, we’re going to have express toll lanes on 405. And these programs require that we phase the work and get started. And by getting started, that’s the way to help manage the costs. So, that’s just my experience on those programs. And getting started is the way that we get to the end.’’

I don’t understand how Meredith can say that with a straight face or that the lawmakers could listen to the garbage and not scream out at the top of their lungs. Her justification for a grossly over-priced project that we can’t afford is to get it started and we will figure out how to pay for it somewhere along the way. You see, if the project is under way, they will have taxpayers held hostage. We will have no choice but to find the funds to complete the project rather than lose everything that has already been committed. That is how transportation officials have treated us on virtually every major project. By the way, WSDOT has one of the worst records of performance in the nation on having its projects come in at cost.

Meredith continued to try to justify her thought-process, noting that exact figures are difficult to estimate because of the size of the mega-project.

“This program is complex for several reasons,’’ she said. “It’s large. It’s multibillion dollars. It involves two states and multiple federal agencies. We face scope, schedule, and budget challenges that must be addressed in the coming months. Any day now, we are expecting a determination from the Coast Guard on the bridge type necessary. This design, this decision will inform the bridge design that moves forward.

“With this decision, the IBR program can finalize the cost estimate, revise the construction sequencing, and complete the finance plan for the first set of investments in the corridor.”

Between the failed Columbia River Crossing and the soon-to-be-failed IBR program, about $500 million taxpayer dollars have already been wasted. Is that enough of a reason to approve a project that is now expected to cost as much as $17.7 billion and likely to cost at least $13.6 billion? In my mind, the answer is a resounding no.

I’ve been told that each time we kick the can down the road by failing these bloated, over-priced projects, we’re just ensuring that the next project will be even more expensive. That doesn’t have to be the case. Folks like myself are not opposed to an I-5 Bridge replacement project. We’re just insisting that any project be cost-effective, to use Meredith’s own words.

We don’t need to spend more than $2 billion for a 1.83-mile extension of TriMet’s light rail that the majority of Southwest Washington residents have said multiple times that they don’t want. There is also a massive amount of additional waste in the current project designed to help bail TriMet out of its current financial woes. 

Remember, in the last 10-15 years we could have built a third bridge across the Columbia River in East County for less than $1 billion. 

We can certainly replace the I-5 Bridge for far less than $13.6 billion and do so with a project that better meets the needs and desires of Southwest Washington residents.