A multi-billion dollar highway project in Portland’s Rose Quarter is moving forward, though state transportation leaders acknowledge they don’t currently have the money to finish it.

Members of the Oregon Transportation Commission voted unanimously Thursday to move ahead with an initial phase of the Rose Quarter Improvement Project.

At an estimated cost of $2.1 billion, the project aims to widen Interstate 5, cap part of the freeway and reconnect a divided Lower Albina, where much of Portland’s Black community lived when the Oregon Department of Transportation drove the interstate through it in the 1950s and ‘60s, displacing families and destroying homes and businesses in the process.

The first phase of the project includes stormwater improvements, bridge maintenance, striping an area auxiliary lane and adding signs for highway cover safety and construction. Collectively, the construction of this phase is estimated to cost $75 million. So far, the state has secured about $447.5 million for the project, according to Rose Gerber, a project spokesperson for ODOT.

The vote to move ahead with this work comes less than a month after lawmakers failed to pass a high-profile transportation bill that sought to revamp Oregon’s transportation system, including with hundreds of millions of dollars for megaprojects like the Rose Quarter. And federal funding has also been slashed.

ODOT criticized for ‘credibility problem’ as Rose Quarter project’s price tag expected to top $2B

The full project has seen costs balloon in recent years, partly due to inflation and the project’s expanded scope, and several funding sources are in question. State transportation dollars were not approved this past legislative session, and the federal government’s latest domestic policy bill pulled $450 million that leaders had banked on.

Taken together, the project’s future is unclear, but commissioners voiced concerns that further delays could increase costs even more.

“Everyone in this room needs to understand that, beyond that, there is no money,” Oregon Transportation Commission Chair Julie Brown said of the upcoming project phase during Thursday’s meeting.

State transportation officials say the state has the money for the initial phase. However, Brown added: “We are not saying that we are going to move forward with the complete Rose Quarter. It’s not up to us at this point. It’s up to the people who have the purse strings.”

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek this week called lawmakers to a special session in August, in which lawmakers will try once again to reach a deal that petered out in the session’s final days. On Wednesday, she unveiled a proposal to buoy the system. It did not include funds for the Rose Quarter.

State leaders on Thursday suggested that the goal when lawmakers convene in August will be to fund state and county transportation agencies, maintain ailing infrastructure and evade mass layoffs, suggesting that the Rose Quarter might not be a top priority.

“There’s so much to come back and do, but for now we really do have to get to a place of stability,” said Kelly Brooks, the governor’s transportation, infrastructure and economic development advisor.

In a press conference Wednesday, Kotek said she will continue calling on the federal government to pull through with the funds it had previously committed. The cuts to the Rose Quarter project came as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to downsize federal spending, including on projects that seek to support historically marginalized communities.

“We have to develop a path to get that project done,” Kotek said. “I do think it’s critical, it’s a safety issue. I think it’s a modernization issue and at this point we don’t have a clear path to funding it, but we’re going to continue to work on it.”

Thursday’s transportation commission meeting highlighted the debate over the project.

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Proponents called on leaders to move forward on the project, correcting what they see as an injustice that has long deepened disparities among Black Portlanders.

“I came here today to remind you that the reconnection of a community torn asunder cannot and will not happen if we continue kicking the can down the road,” said JT Flowers, the director of government affairs and communications for the nonprofit Albina Vision Trust, which is spearheading the push to redevelop the area.

“What we are asking for today is for the right to rebuild our home, with our own hands, on our own terms, and through our own power,” said Flowers.

Critics called on ODOT to pause the project until it has determined a feasible financial path forward, voicing concerns that costs will increase, spurring layoffs, and that expanding the freeway will worsen human-caused climate change.

“Nobody is feeling secure in their future right now,” said Indi Namkoong, the transportation justice coordinator with Verde, an environmental nonprofit. “And that’s why it’s so concerning to see ‘proceed as planned’ framed as the least costly option in this moment, when the context in which we laid those plans no longer exists.”

The upcoming phase of the project will begin Aug. 25 and will continue through the fall of 2026.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/07/24/portland-rose-quarter-project-funding/