About the project
The new bridge
The new bridge design concept
The new bridge design features bike and pedestrian facilities, a look out and traffic shoulders.
Roundabout on the Washington State side of the bridge.
A new bridge will support a thriving economy and livable communities. The new bridge design will address problems with river navigation, vehicle travel, pedestrian and bicycle connections, transit access, and safety.
The design is a modern, wide, concrete bridge with one 12-foot lane in each direction with 8-foot shoulders. It will also include a 12-foot walking and biking path on its west side. It will accommodate all anticipated heavy loads and will have a 45 mph speed limit to safely blend with existing interchanges on both sides of the river.
It will be located slightly downstream from the existing bridge; however, the approaches on both sides of the river will be close to where they are now.
New bridge benefits
Wider lanes. Regulation lane widths with shoulders facilitate safe flow of traffic at highway speed.
Safer navigation. The new bridge will provide more space for barges to more easily navigate underneath the bridge.
Seismically resilient. This will ensure the bridge will remain a critical connection for the Gorge after a major earthquake.
Reduced maintenance cost. Modern design and materials will reduce maintenance costs over the lifespan of the new bridge.
A bike and pedestrian path. New separated facilities for people walking, biking and rolling will increase equity, access and tourism.
Environmental benefits. A storm water collection system will eliminate direct runoff from vehicles into the Columbia River.
We’ll keep using the current bridge until the new bridge is ready, then we’ll remove the old bridge. With a walking and biking path on the new bridge, we won’t need the old bridge — and we’ll save the expense of maintaining it.
Where we are now and next steps
The draft Environmental Impact Study (EIS) is prepared, and the project team expects a Record of Decision (ROD) in late 2023, which will finalize the EIS. The project is moving forward with securing funding, design, and geotechnical testing to understand the site conditions underground. The Hood River-White Salmon Bridge Authority was established on July 1, 2023, and now oversees the bridge replacement project.
Anticipated Project Schedule
( Click image to enlarge for mobile )
Design and construction completion dates are based on an accelerated timeline and are contingent on funding. Completing the bridge by the end of 2029 will likely save money because inflation costs are offset by accelerating the timeline by one year.
Cost & Funding
In the fall of 2021, design and construction costs for the new bridge were estimated at $500 million. The project team now forecasts the cost at $520 million. The original forecast accounted for 4% inflation per year, however, inflation in 2022 was 8% — and for some materials, even higher. If current inflation rates continue, the cost for the bridge is expected to increase by $20 million per year. This emphasizes the need to advance the project as soon as possible.
Funding Chart - updated April 2024
Currently, the project has secured about $327 million in funding. Out of that, $80 million came from Washington through a $75 million allocation as part of the Move Ahead Washington funding plus an additional $5 million grant. Oregon committed $20 million in the 2023 budget. $15 million was received through three different opportunities worth $5 million each: an American Rescue Plan grant through Oregon, a federal Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development grant and a 2017 Oregon grant that has been spent.
In January 2024, the project received a $200 million grant through the federal INFRA (Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight & Highway Projects) program.
An additional $3.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program will be used to plan for the bike and pedestrian access on the bridge.
Large infrastructure projects like this are usually funded by a combination of federal and state grants and loans. Federal grants can only pay for up to 80% of a project and are highly competitive because there are more projects around the country than available funding. State funding is complex because the bridge spans two states, Oregon and Washington.
The portion of new bridge costs not covered by state funds and federal grants will need to be paid with a federal loan. Loans are government-backed, low-interest, and usually taken out against project-related revenue streams, such as tolls.
To secure the loan, the project needs to build up at least $15M in cash reserves by 2028. To meet that goal and to eventually repay the full loan, the project needs to raise money now in the form of increased tolls. All new revenue from this toll increase will go into a restricted fund to be used only for the new bridge.
Bridge Owner
The Port of Hood River owns, operates, maintains and sets tolls on the existing bridge, and will continue to do so until the new bridge is complete.
In July 2023, a new government agency, the Hood River-White Salmon Bridge Authority, was formed to oversee the new bridge. This includes design and construction of the new bridge, and operations, maintenance and setting tolls once the new bridge is operating. Once the Bridge Authority is established, the Port will have no decision rights for the new bridge.