Plans for New Columbia River Bridge Between Ore. and Wash. on Hold

After decades and millions of dollars spent in the planning stages, the effort to build a new bridge over the Columbia River between Portland, Ore., and Vancouver, Wash., has come to a halt due to a lack of funding.

Oregon legislators, once big backers of a bridge to replace the existing span that carries Interstate 5 traffic, said they would not appropriate more money for the project.

Oregon Gov. Jay Inslee (D) had been trying to maintain support for the project after Washington legislators said last year that they would not back the project, although both states had earlier agreed that tolling would help pay the more than $2 billion in construction costs.

I-5 is one of the nation’s heaviest traveled freight routes, but the trucking industry also was split on the issue of a new bridge. Oregon truckers supported the construction; Washington truckers said they had other priorities and objected to the light rail line being part of the project.