Interstate Bridge Replacement Program Meeting

0:00 Good morning, and welcome to the Executive Steering Group of the Interseat Bridge Replacement Program. My name is Lisa Kiyohokalole-Shower, and I'll be the facilitator for this meeting. I'd like to go ahead and get started with our directions for being part of this meeting and viewing this meeting live stream. We have closed captions in both English and Spanish. The English closed captions are available within Zoom and YouTube. Users can follow this link to view both English and Spanish captions in a separate browser window. We are excited to have both closed captions and interpretation available, so Jen will be managing our closed caption, and our interpretation, our ASL interpreters Renee and Jay Oden will

0:58 be with us throughout this meeting. If we could go to the next screen. To ensure that you have access to those closed captions, please go to the bottom middle of your screen. You see a menu of options, and if you can't see the menu, please hover your mouse over the bottom middle of the screen, click on the CC icon, and a separate window with captions will appear. Our webinar participation tips. We appreciate you joining us today. We encourage panelists to turn on your video. We ask that you keep your audio on mute when you're not speaking. Before speaking, please state your name and affiliation to help attendees identify who's talking. If you experience technical difficulties, please contact program staff at 360-931-5839. Today we will be accepting public comment.

1:56 To provide a public comment, you'll be able to email comments to info@interstatebridge.org with ESG public comment in the comment subject line. You may call 888-503-6735 and state ESG public comment in your message. We'll provide directions on how to access this meeting later in the day so you may speak directly to our ESG members. ESG members will not respond but will be able to listen to any feedback and comments that you have. I also wanted to mention that today we have our meeting being live streamed on TVW. We'll go ahead and talk just a moment about our meeting ground rules. These are what we put in place to ensure that we're honoring the agenda, we're listening to understand and ask questions to clarify.

2:54 We're hard on the problems and soft on the people. We'd like to address interests and seek common ground and provide a balance of speaking time. Our meeting agenda for the day includes welcome and introductions, our partner updates, a cost estimate update, an opportunity for public comment, next steps and closing. We began the day with a press conference at the IBR office and a lot of commitment and excitement for the program. We're excited to share this information with you today and I'd like to thank our partners for their continued commitment to this program. We haven't met as an executive steering group since September and so what I'd like to do is go around the virtual room and ask each of our partner agencies to share any updates. We'd like to go ahead and begin with our community advisory co-chairs, Lynn Valentor and Ed Washington. Lynn?

3:52 Thank you and I do want to be clear that I'm speaking for both myself and Ed who couldn't be here for personal reasons today. So in 2025, the community advisory group and equity advisory group met jointly five times as we marched toward the final SEIS. Bringing the two groups together fostered robust discussion, strengthened resource sharing and enabled more efficient collaboration across perspectives. Throughout the process, the program remained mindful of advisory group members' time so we balanced time commitment with the high quality and integrity of the advisory process. The final joint advisory group meeting was held in December. During that meeting, the program provided updates on recent outreach activities, bridge

4:47 configuration, river user agreements, the cost estimate development and process and national industry trends. We also shared with each other the feedback gathered from ourselves regarding what has worked well and what might we consider doing differently in future advisory group engagement. The leadership team was very kind and generous in thanking everyone for their participation. And just as a reminder, the community advisory group was launched in 2020. So we had been together, many of us, as a group for five years. And then since the sunsetting of the advisory group, the program has continued to provide email updates as appropriate, just to keep those that gave so much engaged and informed.

5:44 And the program continues to work on and evaluate what a post record of decision advisory group could look like, both in structure and in charge. So it's been a great five years. The groups were great separately and even maybe greater together. So I think people really felt like they had a voice and they were heard and maybe even more importantly, they were able to carry those messages back to their representative communities. Thank you. Thank you, Lynn. Appreciate your leadership and Ed's leadership with both the groups this last year. I'd like to go ahead and invite Board of Vancouver CEO, Juliana Marler, to provide any updates. Thank you, Lisa. Good afternoon, everyone. Great to see you. Just wanted to provide a quick update on Terminal 1.

6:41 As many, if you've been down in the area, we have been working on continuing some momentum down there at Terminal 1. We have finished driving the pile that will be our future dock. Next steps is that we are working on building the infrastructure that will support the future public marketplace. And then after we get the utilities installed, you'll start to see deck panels that will be installed and then you'll see the dock take shape. So continuing to have some great momentum at Terminal 1 and just look forward to working with the team and appreciate the coordination as we look to deliver these two iconic projects. Thank you. Thank you, Juliana.

7:37 I'm going to ask our Port of Portland partner to go ahead and share. Crudis Robin Hold was not able to make it, but we're glad to have you, Dan Eisenbeis, Regional Affairs Manager with us today. So if you wouldn't mind, Dan, providing an update, that would be great. Thank you, Lisa. Just want to provide a brief update about the port's progress on the Terminal Core Construction Project at PDX. The corridors between the B concourse and C concourse and between the D concourse and E concourse are now open to passengers, which greatly reduces the walking distances through the temporary bypass corridors. So for any folks who have been through PDX during the project, thank you for your patience as we've worked through construction and we're looking forward to project completion in the

8:32 next few months, which will include opening of the new exit corridors on the sides of the main terminal hall. Thanks for joining us today, Dan. I'd like to go ahead and move over to C-TRAN CEO, Leanne Carver wasn't able to be here, but Scott Patterson is here. Hi, Scott. Hey, Lisa. Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. Just one kind of project update for C-TRAN is we have broken ground and we're working at about eight different locations on our Highway 99 bus rapid transit project. So this is our third vine corridor, and so we're really excited about it. Notably, this is also the first BRT that is operating outside of the City of Vancouver city limits. So we've been working with our county partners beginning on the north end. And if all goes as well as the first few months, Mayor Ann will be heading towards the City

9:31 of Vancouver with Highway 99 BRT shortly, and hope to be in operation in about 20 or so months. We also will be having the northern terminus, I should say, at our Washington State University Vancouver campus up in Salmon Creek. Really excited about that. And then for the south end and downtown Vancouver, the terminus will be at the waterfront station. So that's it. Thank you, Scott. Appreciate that. Sam DeSue, our general manager from TriMet wasn't able to make it, but Jamie Snook is here, our capital planning manager. So Jamie, would you like to provide an update for TriMet? Yes, thank you. Yes, Sam could not be here today, but I'm happy to fill in his place. So just a few updates from TriMet. We just released our fiscal year budget.

10:29 While we are facing a budget shortfall, we are taking a number of actions to help bring our expenses in line with our revenues. And I want to be very clear and note that our O&M costs and our forecasts all include IVR. So we continue to plan for the future and we can continue to plan for IVR. And we are really excited to be here. We're really excited about this important investment for both of our states and really excited to see this project move forward. Thank you. Thank you, Jamie. All right, we will head to the city of Vancouver and Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle. Morning, Lisa. Good morning, everyone. Excuse me. The most exciting thing that happened today was that I got to walk with the kindergartners at Halk Elementary School down Main Street for the St. Patrick's Day parade. And it didn't rain on our parade. So yeah, we made it with the bagpipes and the whole routine.

11:28 And there was just one other little event. The governor was down today. So Governor Ferguson had a lovely press conference here with about 50 people in a very cramped room to announce the moving forward with the I-5 bridge and the announcement of the cost and such. But we answered lots of questions. We had all sorts of people there, but we're so very excited that he was able to come down. And Julie, thank you so much for being with us at that announcement. We know that we have a long road ahead to get phase one done and to bring light rail over here to get on and off the bridge. But we're excited to get things moving along. Looking forward to that final supplemental EIS. Thank you so much, Mayor. We'll head over to the city of Portland and Councilor Olivia Clark wasn't able to make it.

12:28 But our PBOT Director, Millicent Williams, who has also been involved in the IBR program, is here with us today. Hi, Millicent. Hi, Lisa. It's so good to see you and to see everyone. I hope you can hear me okay. I am delighted to be able to represent the city of Portland today as we engage in this really important conversation about the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program and its benefits to the entire region, both states and everyone in between or outside of those states benefit from this. And so we're excited about being able to continue to partner. From a city standpoint, since we last met, we now have our permanent city administrator's name is Raymond Lee. He has been briefed on the project and is very much aware of how important it is as an asset to this region and continues to seek out information to ensure that we, as a city,

13:26 continue to stand in support of the work. As he's new to the city and to the region, he brings experience from Colorado and from Texas, but as he's dug in here, it's not 90 days yet, he's been focusing on equity and inclusion, sustainability and resilience, innovation and continuous improvement, transparency and accountability, collaboration and engagement, and customer service and responsiveness. And of course, all of that is important as we are in the thick of things with the budget process for the city. So exciting things happening even within the budget, different ways to think about how we fund the work that's important. But I also wanted to mention that there are committees within the council structure that we have, and Councilor Clark has been serving as chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

14:21 That committee will be phasing out to be replaced with a different committee, one that is now called Infrastructure and Public Works, and so she will continue to serve as chair of that committee, and she has expressed her interest in ensuring that asset management be a priority for both her as an individual councilor and her committee, but as a city. And so again, she is wanting to make sure that you all know that the city continues to be supportive of this work, and we look forward to continuing to engage in what we know will be potentially challenging conversations and how we can work together to a meaningful end. Thank you. Thank you, Millicent. I'd like to head over to the Regional Transportation Council with Executive Director Matt Ransom. Thank you, Lisa, and good afternoon to the partners. I'm so pleased to be here this afternoon.

15:20 Over the last couple of months with the RTC Board of Directors, we've had the opportunity to brief the Board on the matters pertaining to the final environmental impact statement. Most recently, a full briefing provided by the RPR program team at their February general meeting. Over the course of the prior months, my team has reviewed the environmental documentation. It is our opinion that it is complete, robust, sufficiently identifies potential impacts of the program, and is worthy of presentation to the federal agencies for their consideration and approval. So thank you for the team and your support at our most recent February meeting. We just intimated how the project could be delivered. I think I'm anxious to hear the entire report today, and then look to the team to support us at future meetings about the program delivery and the next steps to the program. If I could just make one personal comment. I wanted to express gratitude to Lynn, Mr. Washington.

16:17 Co-chairing your report five years, co-chairing the CAG on behalf of all the partners that participate in the regional planning, city planning, just all of us that do this work. I think your commitment to the program as a volunteer and members that served on your committee, I just wanted to state that publicly. Thank you for your time and your service. Doesn't go without notice. And again, I appreciate your contribution. Thank you, Matt. Really well said. I want to really build on Matt's appreciation as I head over to Metro counselor and just mention that today we do not have President Lynn Peterson, whose last day was Friday, March 13th, and her commitment on behalf of Metro with this program has been something that we deeply appreciate. And so I just want to thank her publicly for her commitment and service as the Metro ESG

17:15 representative. And I'm glad to see that counselor Juan Carlos Gonzalez is here today. So thank you for being here and I'll turn it over to you to provide any updates on behalf of Metro. Yeah, thanks, Lisa. Most importantly, I wanted to share with folks what you just shared that Council President Peterson's last day at Metro was on Friday and we're all wishing her well in her new role. And you're absolutely right that she's been a champion for this project. With her departure, I will now be Metro's ESG member representative, and very eager to continue the important work that has been going on with this for this really critical regional investment. And I just want to emphasize like everyone else has that this project is very important to the region's economy. And I am going to show up with purpose and with attention to understand about what it's going to take for us to deliver this project, and how we ensure that this project includes

18:14 the opportunities and the jobs that that the working people in our regions desperately need right now and here to be the best partner possible. Thank you. Thank you so much. We're going to now move over to our DOTs and I'm really grateful to have both Secretary Meredith and Interim Director Sumption with us today. So I'd like to start off with their introductions along with their opening remarks. I'll go ahead and turn it over to our Interim Director, Lisa Sumption to kick us off. Good afternoon, all. I thought for sure Julie was going to go first. It's really nice to get to see you all and get to meet you all. This is a, I think I'm approaching day 90 here so it's really nice to get to know you all super excited to be here super excited to be part of this morning. So thank you for all of those of it, we're here and supported the conversation versus an agency update I want to, I just I want to share the great news that I'm super grateful

19:12 that the Oregon legislature has provided funding that will allow us to avoid layoffs and deep service reductions. So it's a, that's a big, big kudos. The funding allows us to do essential transportation services to continue statewide operations including our highway maintenance and winter operations, emergency responses and DMV field offices. It's a short term band aid but we're really grateful for the band aid and look forward to working with all of you to figure out how we're going to move forward for the future. Now why we're all here today. The interstate bridge, a bi-state connector that supports our local economy, ties our communities together ensures both sides of the Columbia River have access to essential services. The common thread that connects our jurisdictions and agencies is that aging bridge. And we have a duty on behalf of our constituents and the broader public that we all serve to build a bridge that will serve the region for the next hundred years.

20:08 Nearly every day over 140,000 vehicles pass over the interstate bridge to cross the Columbia River to get to work, to deliver goods and services, to access medical care, other essential services and to take in that unparalleled beauty and natural recreation opportunities. I could not not say that as the former Parks Director. So folks do come to this region to recreate and replacement of that interstate bridge will make those trips safer, faster and much easier. It'll also enhance our seismic resiliency with a replacement bridge to modern design standards and capable of withstanding that earthquake that we all know is inevitable. Secretary Meredith and I are thankful for your dedication to the IBR program. We know it's been a bumpy ride, but the program perhaps the most complex infrastructure project than the United States in this particular moment. It is not without its challenges, but we're ready for them. With your commitment and our ongoing cross river collaboration, we are on a path to moving

21:06 this critical infrastructure into construction. I think Julie would have done it a month ago if I wouldn't have stood in her way. But as we move forward, I want to reinforce with our community this program's commitment to the thoughtful stewardship of the public dollars entrusted to us. We pledged to identify creative ways to close the gap between our current finding and what we anticipate will be required to deliver the full five mile corridor of the IBR investments over time. Thank you all for your partnership. Thank you all for your commitment and your patience as we turn this vision into a reality. On behalf of the Oregon Department of Transportation, I'm proud of the progress the IBR program has made and look forward to seizing the opportunities with each other today and look forward to a full vision together as we move forward. Thank you, Director. I'd like to go ahead and invite Secretary Meredith to share some opening remarks as well. Thank you. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Julie Meredith, I'm the Secretary of Transportation

22:05 for the Washington state. And I'm like Lisa, I have 12 whole months under my belt. So I feel very well seasoned here today. Our legislature just wrapped up this year, it was a short session, 60 days. Like most states, it was a challenging session. And I'm really, really fortunate that the legislature and the governor recognize the need to invest in transportation infrastructure and they invested another 1.5 billion over six years for the preservation and maintenance of our highways and ferry systems. So that's a good down payment on the tremendous backlog of work that's been accumulating over decades under investment in preservation. And their work at this legislative session recognized our mission, which is to provide

23:03 safe, reliable, and cost effective transportation, heavy emphasis on the word reliable. Transportation supports our economic vitality for people and businesses and at its core, it means access, access to healthcare jobs, access to recreational opportunities, as Lisa likes to point out, and it provides opportunities for everyone. And as many heard this morning at the press conference, transportation isn't just infrastructure, it's the backbone of our economy. And when our transportation system works, the economy works. This winter, in fact, we had many storms in Washington state, and we had many bridge strikes. And when those bridges and roadways were blocked, it was felt across the communities and system really didn't function and it was felt.

23:58 So I view our responsibility as twofold to take care of what we have today and to make disciplined strategic investments to support the continuation of the community and to develop a system that supports our future generations going forward. So today we're going to talk about the long-term responsibility that we have on this program. You're going to hear an update on the cost of information and the trends that are driving those costs, which are nationwide. As a result of this cost information and the schedule information we'll talk about today, the program is going to take a phased approach, a disciplined approach moving forward. And I have spent 30 years in transportation and most of it on mega programs in Washington state. And what I've learned is successful delivery happens step by step or phase by phase. With the foundational elements being those that you can build upon and provide the greatest

24:56 safety, reliability, and economic benefit. That's where you began. And that approach has allowed law stop to deliver complex programs across the state. So Carly and her team will walk you through the presentation and the outline going forward. This work you're going to hear is challenging work. Advancing it requires strategies to manage risk and cost control and continuing to move forward while additional funding will be secured. But this is work we all know how to do. Managing the cost will be our top priority going forward and this year the program is going to hire, going through the process to hire a contractor for the Columbia River Bridge with the goal of awarding the contract in 2027 and beginning construction in 2028. Moving forward in deliberate but decisive steps.

25:51 You'll also see the program transition from planning, which is where they've been, into construction. This includes strengthening the construction and contracting and delivery expertise on the team and ensuring we have the right skills and controls in place to deliver. This is complex work, but it's essential work. And I have seen what delivering infrastructure investments of this scale can do for the communities in the region. And I look forward to working with Director Sumption and Carly and all of you to deliver this project. And I'd like to thank you for your participation and commitment to the program. Back to you, Lisa. Thank you, Secretary Meredith. All right, I appreciate all of the updates and I think we are ready to go ahead and move right into the presentation piece.

26:48 So I'd like to go ahead and invite interim IBR program administrator Carly Francis to go ahead and kick us off with our first part of the program. So we'll bring the slides up and welcome Carly. Thank you so much, Lisa. So thank you, Secretary Meredith and Director Sumption. As you've heard from the secretary and director, ODOT and WSDOT are continuing to be committed to constructing the full modified locally preferred alternative over time. We've partnered on this journey with all of you since we agreed on the modified locally preferred alternative and we look forward to constructing this program alongside you. Our vision hasn't changed, but our path to get there will take a little bit longer. Next slide. The path includes starting with a core set of projects as a first phase and building

27:47 out from there. These core projects must be completed first before we can build other projects. The first steps include building a replacement bridge, connecting the bridge to Interstate 5, extending light rail to Vancouver and removing the existing bridge. We have five and a half billion dollars in available funding and we'll use some of that to move forward with a replacement bridge contract this year. Building the bridge is necessary to ensure safety in our community and then we can ensure life-saving services following an earthquake. I'm going to introduce Alan Kaiser to dive into cost estimate update details. Thank you, Carly and good afternoon everyone. My name is Alan Kaiser. I was the facilitator and risk lead for the cost estimate validation process that the program recently completed. I have supported – CVIP is the acronym for cost assessment validation process – I've

28:41 supported WASHDOT's CVIP program for almost 25 years since its inception in 2002. Over that time, I've also worked closely nationally with both the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Transit Administration and many other state departments of transportation and local transit agencies around the country along with many other organizations. I've been involved with many mega programs, complex mega programs both within Washington state and around the Pacific Northwest region and also nationally including several of the major bridge, marine bridge projects going on nationally at this time. Next slide please. So I will start by going over some of the key changes in the program since the last estimate was released in 2022. First, the overall schedule to deliver the five-mile corridor has been extended by 11 years. There are two major parts of this.

29:36 First, the NEPA process was delayed by about two years because of a need to analyze and study some additional components including a movable span option. There were questions around transit modeling, river user navigation. Questions had to be addressed. The second part of that is the construction sequencing. The program undertook a series of very detailed construction sequencing reviews working with industry and construction experts to really go through and figure out how does this program actually need to be built and sequenced in a way that can maintain traffic and how can the industry accommodate the volume of construction over a period of time. That work resulted in a much more sequential delivery program for the entire five-mile corridor which added another eight to ten years over the prior schedule. So that's first one. The second one is the bridge configuration has changed since that time.

30:35 At the time in 2022, there was a configuration and assumption of two stacked bridges. That has now changed to two single level bridges. Third, the construction contracts were repackaged. I mentioned the industry review of the packaging and phasing. The 2026 estimate assumes the five-mile corridor will be delivered through over two dozen separate contract packages in response to industry feedback, whereas in the 2022 estimate, that work had not yet been done. And so there were some broad assumptions around larger contract packages and a lot of concurrent work which turned out to not be very realistic. Lastly, the program has undertaken a new cost estimate, so a brand new cost estimate with the engineering has been advanced on most aspects of the program which has generated new quantities for cost items.

31:32 The unit pricing of cost items has been updated to reflect current market conditions in the region, and the team has done a lot of work to look at, again, what is it actually going to cost, how is it to actually build and sequence and deliver the program, what sort of temporary elements are required, and so on and so forth. So those are some of the key changes. So the program estimate that's being released consists of three major components. The first component is what we call the base cost estimate, which is essentially the cost of the program in current dollars, assuming everything goes exactly as planned. The second part is risk, so it's an allowance for things we don't know, uncertainties and also potential risks, potential issues that could arise, may or may not arise and could affect the cost of the program. And lastly, escalation. So escalation is inflation that takes the cost of elements of work from today until

32:31 the point in the future when that work will actually be constructed, and so we call that year of expenditure. Next slide, please. So the estimate that's being developed was developed through a multi-step approach, and I'll say that the estimate that's being communicated is not a single number but rather a range. It's what we call a risk-based estimate. And so the major steps is first to take the cost in current dollars and inflate those to year of expenditure according to the program delivery schedule. Next, a risk analysis was performed which looked at over 100 risk factors and uncertainties of issues that may or may not occur and affect the program and affect the program cost. For example, uncertainty in future inflation rates, potential tariffs, various market conditions, and various delays that could occur that could all have an effect on the project cost. So the methodology that was used to develop the risk-based estimate followed, again, WSDOT's

33:29 Risk Estimate Validation Process, or CVIP, which has been recognized as a national leader in this risk-based estimation over the past 25 years. It's also consistent with requirements at the federal level, so both the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration require a similar risk-based estimate process for all federally funded projects of this nature. Next slide, please. So the program cost estimate that's being communicated is being expressed as a range of 13.5 billion to 15.2 billion with a likely cost of 14.4 billion. So again, these are points of a range estimate. The 14.4 billion represents what we call a 70th percentile. So in the risk, probabilistic risk analysis is performed, we do 10,000 simulations of

34:22 potential program outcomes, of that 10,000, 7,000 came in at, or 70% came in at 14.4 billion or less, 30%, 3,000 came in above that number. And so the components of the 14.4 billion, the base cost component is 7.8 billion, the risk component is 4.2 billion, and the escalation component is 2.4 billion. So contrasting that with the 2022 estimate, range was expressed as a range of 5 billion to 7.5 billion with a likely cost of 6 billion. The 6 billion was a 60th percentile, which was the WSDOT standard at the time, again, the 14.4 is a 70th percentile, slightly more conservative, and that's consistent with Federal Highway Administration minimum contingency requirements for major projects. Next slide, please. So I think everyone's familiar with the inflationary backdrop that's been occurring

35:22 over the past few years, but the Federal Highway Administration tracks this change in the cost to deliver construction projects over time through what's called the National Highway Construction Cost Index, or NHCCI. And so this is from FHWA. So what you can see is for many years, the inflation was fairly predictable and fairly benign. Beginning in around 2021, obviously we have the COVID pandemic, and the subsequent spike in cost escalation turned out to be a multiyear, about a five-year sustained period of double-digit annual cost escalation, almost unprecedented to have that occur consistently, consecutively for so many years. So it turns out when we were doing, or when the program was developing the 2022 estimate, it was in the very early stages of what turned out to be about a five-year trend of extraordinary

36:21 construction cost escalation. So when the previous estimate was being developed in 2022, the NHCCI was at a value of 2.04. When this estimate was being developed, it was at a value of 3.21. So that's a 58% increase. And again, this is national figures over the time between the two estimates were prepared. Next slide, please. So why did the cost increase from 2022? So some of the key factors that drove that, first, we've talked about escalation. Again, there's kind of two parts of that. One is from 2022 to 2026, we've talked about the 58% national increase in highway construction cost escalation. I would say anecdotally, the cost of this type of work, which is marine structure construction, I believe it's been even higher than that based on some anecdotal information nationally. That's one part. The second part is looking forward.

37:21 So in the 2022 estimate, the program utilized a WSDOT state inflation forecast, and that's been replaced. So to inflate cost forward, that's been replaced with an IBR program specific inflation forecast, which captures the anticipated market conditions and factors specific to this program and specific to this region, which results in a higher year of expenditure forecast than previous estimates. So that's number one. Number two, we've talked about the schedule extension, so the additional 11 years to complete all of the contracts. The program elements adds first additional escalation, so the work elements that are being done later in the future, further in the future are subject to more escalation. And also the program, there's a carrying cost, a delivery cost to administer a program like this. So the longer it extends, the longer that those costs are incurred. The third element is, I mentioned that a new estimate was developed.

38:18 So the 2022 estimate was based very heavily on assumptions and quantities that were derived way back during the Columbia River crossing program. And the program hadn't had the time to really go through and re-update, re-validate all of that information. So a lot of it was literally just inflated forward for over a decade. Whereas in the current estimate, again, detailed engineering work has been done, additional quantities have been developed, unit pricing has been updated. So it's really a complete new estimate. Lastly, risk impacts, I mentioned that we had a very comprehensive risk analysis, over 400 risks were identified for the program and discussed and analyzed. And lastly, we mentioned the percentile being reported as the target number is increased from a 60th percentile to a 70th percentile, so a bit more conservative there.

39:15 With that, I believe I will hand it back to Carly. Thank you, Alan. On the next slide, the other piece that varies and is estimated with the cost estimating validation process is program schedule. So what you'll see here is updates to the program schedule, reflecting the estimate process. One, you'll note here, we have the expectation to issue the NEPA record of decision in quarter two of 2026. And that allows us to begin the procurement process, begin construction, looking to advance procurement this year by issuing the request for qualifications in quarter two and request for proposals in quarter four. That supports then working to conduct contract award and negotiations in 2027, so getting a contractor on board and working through those design and cost negotiations.

40:12 The goal is to start bridge construction in 2028 with toll beginning that same year. We had previously stated that construction would start in 2026 due to the two-year NEPA document delay that has been covered briefly. 2028 is our new target. People can expect to drive over the new bridge or walk or ride over the new bridge six to seven years after construction starts. The final timing on that will be confirmed once we have a contractor on board. Construction for light rail would start in 2030 with light rail service to Vancouver when we have capital investment grant funding and is anticipated to be operational around 2036. Additional funding for the full five-mile corridor at the right time would support it being completed in 2045. The schedule reflects a phased realistic delivery approach that aligns construction, funding,

41:06 and workforce capacity, while continuing to advance the program deliberately and responsibly. Next slide. Near and long term, we have work to manage costs. We will continue to work with people in this room. We, as folks have heard, we've been directed by Governor Kotek and Governor Ferguson to continue to find ways to reduce costs. Our path to reduce costs includes design refinements, value engineering, which is work that identifies lower cost approaches to the work without compromising function, risk management, and potential contract repackaging. In the coming months, we'll complete the required initial finance plan that's a requirement of the federal government to work on completing our grant amendment work. And subsequently, we will do financial plan updates as required by the Federal Highway Administration. We are also committed to sharing updates more frequently, including at major milestones.

42:03 Next slide. This is an opportunity for any questions or comments. So we just want to pause and just see if there are any of our agency partners that have questions or comments. Okay, I'm not seeing any. We'll continue though there's another opportunity for questions and comments, but we want to continue with the presentation. So Carly, I'll turn it back to you. Thank you. So if we move on to the next slide. To maintain funding and move to design and construction, we have key milestones to hit. It's been a priority to manage the schedule and my time here. We need to finish the NEPA process by publishing the final supplemental environmental impact statement and receiving an amended record of decision shortly thereafter.

43:03 We do need to complete an initial finance plan that includes the full program, but also focuses on core first phase projects. We need to amend our federal grant agreements to ensure we execute the bridge investment program grant by the end of September. There's a half a billion dollars that would disappear basically if we don't complete that on time. This year we will also begin the procurement process as mentioned for the Columbia River Bridge through a progressive design build contract. Also we are working to continue the STIP and MTIP amendment processes and look forward to working with agencies in this room to complete those updates. Next slide. We have steps that we need to take to get the amended record of decision. Firstly, we know obtaining the decision from the Coast Guard allowing a fixed span bridge was a major step in the NEPA process.

44:00 We do need to publish the final SEIS and secure those MTIP and STIP amendments. To execute the federal grant amendments, we need the ROD. We need approval from FHWA on the finance plan that includes an identified funded phase. The identified funded phase outlines what projects can be built with the funds that we have and provide also independent utility that can be used by the public. Next slide. So we'll move on to talk about moving forward with a core set of projects and initial phase. Next slide. As a brief recap, folks have seen this slide before, but this is the available funding to the program at this time. We have the MEGA grant, which is a federal grant at the 600 million mark. We have a bridge investment program grant for $1.5 billion. There are lines on here to represent the billion that's coming to the program from each of

44:59 the states, some previous state funding, and also a tolling funding placeholder that's here at $1.25 billion. We are representing here money that's not yet in hand, but we are working to advance and secure through the capital investment grant program, and then additional funds that have come through the Connecting Washington package in Washington state, and also some other federal grant monies that were applied for and awarded to the City of Vancouver and Washington State DOT. With the $14.4 billion figure in mind, we are working to identify this first phase core set of projects to move forward with the approximately $5.5 billion in committed funding and the opportunity to secure that $1 billion. The core set of projects is the first step towards building the full five-mile program. It includes the minimum scope needed to build a bridge, connect it to I-5, and operate light rail to Vancouver.

45:56 These elements are the first foundational steps towards building the full program and ensuring that we are addressing seismic resiliency and multimodal connections. The core set of projects includes replacing the Columbia River bridges, connecting the many bridges to I-5, extending light rail to the waterfront station in Vancouver, removing the existing bridge, which is a requirement of the U.S. Coast Guard bridge permit for navigation and safety reasons. We will use the $5.5 billion in committed funding to deliver these core projects, but we must identify a funded phase to include in the initial finance plan that serves the public and meets the funding requirements for federal grants. Next slide, the core set of projects is what you see reflected on the map here. We recognize there will be many questions. We don't expect to have all the answers today. We will be offering additional time with any partner agency to meet and ask additional questions.

46:55 The black on this graphic represents the replacement bridge and connections to I-5. It does include a shared use path for walkers and bicyclists, and also the necessary width to accommodate light rail. The orange line on this graphic represents improvements needed to carry and extend operating light rail, and the maroon line here represents removal of the existing bridge once the new bridge opens to traffic. Also included here is pre-completion tolling, and the expectation for tolling is a core component of the funding of the program. The cost for this set of projects is $7.65 billion. You'll see on this map that the scope for these projects and associated construction packages has been minimized, and we've produced two separate one-pagers that summarize a risk assessment that was completed for this initial phase that provides some similar information to the cost estimate information we're rolling out today.

47:53 Next slide. As a first step towards building the core set of projects, we do need to build the bridge and connect it into I-5. That includes the improvements here in black. The cost to replace the bridge and connect it to I-5 is currently estimated as $5.9 billion. We still have a gap of $450 million to deliver this first step of that core set of projects. Brent will cover some financing details in a bit on how we match up those funds that we have with the activities in construction. Next slide. Given the first step is building the replacement bridge, we are making progress to move forward with the contract to start advancing bridge design and construction this year. We're using the progressive design-build method for that procurement, with WSDOT as the lead contracting agency. As noted before, we are looking to publish a request for qualifications before the midpoint of this year and a request for proposals by the end of this year.

48:51 If we remain on this schedule, we anticipate selecting a contractor and starting design and cost negotiations in 2027 with construction beginning in 2028. Progressive design-build was selected because it allows innovation with the design-builder, having input and discussions between the design team and the building team, those builders who have the means and methods to complete the construction. There's the potential for efficiencies with construction packaging and early works contracts, and we expect that it will reduce change orders and claims through risk sharing. Next slide. The first step for light rail, as we talk about bringing it across the Columbia River, is to build the replacement bridge to provide space for a dual-track light rail system. We are continuing to pursue the $1 billion in funding through the Federal Transit Administration Capital Investment Grant program. The program is currently in the first step of that process and is working to enter the

49:49 engineering phase in 2027. To enter that phase, we must have 30% of the non-CIG funds committed and a successful rating on competitive criteria. Completing each step of the CIG process helps increase confidence that we will successfully receive funding at the end of the process. The region has successfully completed this process on many other projects, and if the program is successful in completing the remaining steps, the grant could be awarded in 2030. Next slide. With respect to removing the existing bridge, after the new bridge opens to traffic, we will need to remove the existing bridges. That is a requirement of the U.S. Coast Guard, and that removal can happen as early as 2035 once the new bridges are open and available for traffic. Overall funding is likely needed and is needed to remove the existing interstate bridge. Next slide.

50:49 As we've already discussed briefly, phasing mega programs is not unique. It's very standard practice. It's not unique to this program. Across the country, major multi-mile corridor improvements are typically delivered in phases over time to align with available funding, workforce capacity, and construction sequencing. As Secretary Meredith mentioned, we've done this successfully here in Washington and Oregon with the SR 520 bridge replacement program and the Newburgh Dundee Bypass. We also see the same approach across the country on nationally significant projects like the Brent Spence Bridge. Successful mega programs move forward incrementally, starting with foundational investments that deliver the greatest safety, reliability, and economic benefit and build towards the vision over time. This phased approach allows us to manage risk, control costs, and deliver benefits to the public sooner rather than waiting for all the funding to be in place at once. It's a proven delivery model, and it's the approach we'll be applying here.

51:47 I'll turn it over to Brent Baker to speak about funding and how we're matching that up to costs of the program. Go ahead, Brent. Great. Thank you, Carly. Good afternoon. My name is Brent Baker, and I serve as the financial structures lead for the IBR program. For the past 35 years, I've been engaged in infrastructure financial planning in the Northwest, throughout the US, and internationally. I've supported financial planning work on five Washington mega projects in the Puget Sound region, including the SR 520 bridge replacement and HOV program and the Puget Sound gateway program, both through which WSDOT has successfully applied a phased delivery approach and has navigated through substantial post-pandemic construction cost increases. I've also been engaged in financial planning of Sound Transit's high-capacity transit investments over the past three decades, also in the Puget Sound region.

52:43 I am excited to be working on a project as critical and important as the IBR program. Let's talk about the funding again. So we saw this slide earlier; I'm going to go into a little bit more detail. Right now, we have federal discretionary grants that include a $1.5 billion bridge investment program grant from FHWA and a $600 million mega grant from USDOT. Both of those grants have been awarded; however, they have not been fully obligated. While committed, only $10 million of the mega grant and about $2 million of our bridge investment program grant have been obligated for design and preliminary engineering purposes. So part of our process is to update the grant agreements this summer and amend them to obligate additional funds in advance of that September 30th obligation deadline affecting a portion

53:41 of the BIP grant funds that Carly noted. Additionally, if you look below the black line about the middle of that table, you'll see the Federal Transit Administration Capital Investment Grant that was also noted. This is anticipated but not yet secured for a billion dollars. The process to get one of these grants is a multi-year process, and right now the program is in what is known as a project development phase, and we'll be applying to enter into the next phase, entry into engineering later this year. Moving back up to the top part of the table again, we have the state contributions individually of $1 billion from Washington and Oregon, as well as the total funding of $1.25 billion. That total funding will be split between the two states, and basically each state's funds

54:40 will be spent on improvements for the program that are in that state or benefit both states. Additionally, the grant funding then serves as the ability to kind of balance out expenditures between the states. Total funding, the $1.25 billion current assumption, is assumed to be eligible on highway elements, so that would be the Columbia River bridges themselves, the approaches or connections that connect them to I-5, and/or bridge removal. While that amount is $1.25 billion is what's currently assumed, work is underway right now at the Office of the State Treasurer in Washington and within ODOT and the Office of State Treasury in Oregon to examine whether more funding is possible within the rates and policies that are currently under consideration by the two state transportation commissions.

55:39 The results of that work will be forthcoming later this spring. Toll funding for construction comes sort of in two parts. The first part is bond or loan proceeds, that's borrowing against the future toll revenues, and those funds are assumed to be available starting in fiscal year 2032. Additionally, a portion of the net toll revenues collected from pre-completion tolling that would begin in mid-2028 until that point of when the bonds are sold or the loan is drawn in 2032, a portion of those toll revenues collected will also be applied directly to construction. And finally, on that capital investment grant from the Federal Transit Administration, we're assuming that that funding would be available starting in fiscal year, state fiscal year

56:35 2031, following the execution of a full funding grant agreement no later than 2030. So on the next slide, we're going to graphically show you a bit about what this looks like. So this is the first step of the program that Carly showed in a previous slide. It provides the Columbia River Bridge with width for future light rail service and those connections to I-5. The total cost for this scope of work is represented by the black line and amounts to $5.9 billion. The available funding that we showed on the previous table in that kind of black middle bar totals up to $5.45 billion. This leaves a funding gap of $450 million, and work, as I mentioned earlier, is underway

57:35 to see if additional toll bond proceeds, combined with cost saving measures, could close that $450 billion gap. The next slide shows the full core set of projects. The vision for completing that $7.65 billion scope of work, represented again by the black line here, and our available funding is the same at $5.45 billion until we consider the possibility of that prospective Federal Transit Administration Capital Investment Grant. Again, we are well on the way in the multiyear process of applying and securing those funds, but they are not yet committed. Should they become and when they become committed, that would leave an additional funding need of $1.2 billion.

58:31 You can see what is represented by that $1.2 billion as sort of those unfilled bars on the chart beginning in fiscal year 2033. We can talk a bit here on the following slide about the pathway to getting these core sets of projects built, the Columbia River Bridge with light rail service, to Vancouver. So kind of summarizing what we've sort of shown in the chart, replacing the bridges with space for LRT and connecting the I-5 results in that $450 million funding gap that starts in fiscal year 2033. Adding that operable light rail transit to the waterfront station in Vancouver, and also factoring in removal of the existing bridges, increases that funding gap to $2.2 billion,

59:30 though we do anticipate securing that Federal Transit Administration Capital Investment Grant of $1 billion, thereby reducing the additional amount needed to $1.2 billion. Again, we are going to be combining the forthcoming toll funding analysis to see how that can contribute to reducing the funding gap as well as taking full advantage of cost-saving opportunities under evaluation. A bit more on that on the next slide with additional strategies – oops, I think we may have jumped one too far ahead. Thank you. All righty, so strategies for closing the funding gap – the IBR program is dedicated to continue to identify cost-saving opportunities, including design refinements, value engineering,

1:00:29 and risk management. So a bit more on those – value engineering is a process by which lower-cost approaches are identified that will provide the same outcome without compromising function. Additionally, for each project, designs will be refined and there will be a better understanding of the actual cost once a contractor is on board after being selected for the various projects to be procured. The use of a progressive design-build contracting method will also bring potential efficiencies and innovations where designers and builders get together early to identify those possibilities for efficiencies and cost-savings rather than having all those built into risks in a design-build contract price.

1:01:26 Again, the program will actively manage and mitigate identified risks related to cost and schedule. Alan shared a bit about that – there is quite a bit of risk built into it and the program will be seeking ways to mitigate and retire those risks. Finally, there will be a consideration of potential efficiencies that would occur with contract packaging. So combining some of the project components together into a larger contract package to gain the efficiencies and economies of scale there and that work will be done in conjunction with the construction industry to see where that makes most sense. And again, as mentioned earlier, we will seek to increase the toll funding based upon the forthcoming analysis; however, that toll funding analysis that we are waiting is based upon the existing toll rates and policies under consideration by the State Transportation

1:02:22 Commission so there is no seeking of additional toll rates there at this time. Finally, on the next slide, there's a couple of additional strategies here for closing the funding gap. We're going to continue to work toward securing that $1 billion Federal Transit Administration Capital Investment Grant and the various steps required to do that. Again, as mentioned earlier, we're in project development and anticipate entering into the next step, entry to engineering, later this year with a full funding grant agreement coming in 2030. The program has so far been very successful in securing discretionary federal grants for to date ranging from $1 million to $1.5 billion and we will continue to pursue other applicable

1:03:18 federal grant funding options such as the USDOT INFRA and BUILD discretionary grant programs. And finally, the program will work with each state to consider other cost savings, funding, and financing opportunities. So with that, I will turn it back to Carly or Lisa. Thank you. >> Thank you, Brent. This is a lot of information. I want to pause and just see if our partners have any questions or comments. We're actually doing very well on time, so just want to encourage if you do have questions

1:04:05 or comments for Carly or Brent? >> I do. Thank you for the leeway. On one of the slides, and I don't have them memorized, but on one of the slides there was the addition of the removal of the bridge and something else. Help me understand why that's in addition to the proposed 5.9 because it seems like that's probably not discretionary or maybe the timing is. Anyway, if you could just expand a bit on that, I would appreciate it. >> Thank you, Lynn. Happy to expand on that. We are focused in the initial finance plan on the funded phase, which is really related

1:05:01 to what we look at in the metropolitan transportation improvement program, the state transportation improvement program. There's a horizon for those costs and what you're looking to extend, and so that's usually the three to four-year kind of time frame. The time frame for removing the bridges is out in 2035, so there is time to address those funds. It is a permit requirement, but right now we're focusing on how to get started recognizing that we will need to make that up at that time. >> Thank you. Great answer. I'm glad I asked. >> Thanks for kicking us off, Lynn. Any other questions or comments? And Matt, go ahead. >> Yeah, thank you. And Alan and Carly and Brent, very good reporting. One of this is perhaps intuitively surprised.

1:05:57 We've seen cost estimates last year, which have been updated. Alan, I think I understand more completely the nature of the costs that were updated, the variables, the schedule extension, which would appear to make perfect sense. I am making my own assumption with a contractor in the future, those are things that will be adjusted as packages are released, so at least best thinking is what you put forward, and I appreciate your expertise. And then on the finance side, this is not unfamiliar territory to any of us. I think just personally about my professional experience in local government, I spent years trying to assemble dollars for projects. The scales are different, and I think order of magnitude, these are, to state the obvious, not insignificant in terms of scale, but the process is what we all do, whether it be something

1:06:55 as small as a sidewalk to water sewer treatment plants to then big infrastructure like bridges and light rail systems. I'm fully confident in the expertise and the advice around this table to think through how it could be done, so I appreciate the reporting. And now at the MPO table, I see it from the other side, which is working with our partners to deliver projects, and not a single partner comes to the MPO table asking for the monies that we distribute that has all the money from day one, and so the sequencing just logically makes sense. I think we can fill the gaps for this core set. I have full confidence that that's something that we can work towards, and we have not only I think you presented a game plan, but then it's the execution and adjustment and execution of that game plan, and I have full confidence in the team, so this is really

1:07:54 good information. I think it's timely. People have been chomping at the bit waiting. I'm confident, and what I'm seeing, what I'm presenting, I feel confident in the EIS, as I stated earlier, and that this can nest within the EIS, the phasing can nest within it, and that the phasing that's being proposed would appear to be the most logical first phase, subject to the refinements that will come forward. I don't want to leave this discussion, nor would I ever want the board of directors, RTC, to think this is it, this is the first proposal, the refinements will be forthcoming in terms of the phases, once you get the contractor on board, once you get all these things sort of moving progressively forward together, we'll make adjustments as necessary, so I appreciate this report. I feel very confident in what I'm seeing. Thank you, Matt.

1:08:52 I see Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle has her hand up. Thank you, Lisa. Actually, let's make it real clear, phase one, phase one that you have outlined, cost and when phase one might be done. So the first step, so step one of phase one, if you want to call phase one the core set of projects, step one is $5.9 billion with bridge construction targeted to start in 2028, and a construction horizon for that bridge of six to seven years, which we will firm up that date and that timeline with the contractor once we have them on board. So we'd be looking to have that and the approach contracts kind of come to fruition around the same time so that folks can then travel over the bridge on the new or on the bridge over the river.

1:09:46 Beyond that, sort of step two is getting light rail extended and also removing the existing bridges. The construction horizon for that would be starting on light rail in 2030 as we have the funds in from the FTA Capital Investment Program grant. And then moving that construction horizon is 2030 to 2036 anticipated. The bridge removal can start in 2035, and I think is a couple of year process to get that completed. Thank you, because I believe after this morning's press release, the headlines on all of these newspapers and television stations is the bigger number 2045, and people will have that stuck in their brain.

1:10:37 But we're talking about phase one, bridge, and that number in 2034, which is what we're aiming for, phase one. So as the message gets out, let's make sure that people understand we're building a bridge. This is the cost that we know right now based on risk and all of the inflation, et cetera. And this is when we're going to start it, and this is our hopeful deadline. So it's not 2045. It's in the 30s, and it looks like 2034. So that is the message that I hope people understand. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Anne, really important communication message. Other comments or questions from our partners?

1:11:36 Okay, the next step here is to invite public comment. Oh, great. Councilor Gonzalez, go ahead. Yeah, thanks. I know that we potentially have more slides as well. Is that right? Or is that the end of the presentation? We're going to go ahead and invite public comment, and then we do have some next steps, which are just a couple more slides. But this is a good moment if you have any comments or questions. Yeah, certainly. Thank you. Well, I mean, just to chime in here, you know, looking at the map of the core project is tough. I mean, I think we've really been envisioning and hoping for a project that would have important investments for all of our stakeholders in the coalition. And I just want to acknowledge the kind of that, like initial set of disappointment and ripping the bandaid off. And also we need to focus on what we can deliver for folks. And I think that's really important tension to manage.

1:12:34 I want to ask some quick questions just around some process oriented questions. I appreciate Matt from RTC asking some but with respect to the transit element on the project, which is very important to, I know my council and on the Oregon side, you know, my understanding is that FTA awarded us $100 million for the larger transit project, seeing the project kind of phased into a much smaller for the critical phase. I'm wondering how much our federal partners at FTA know about this and how they feel about, you know, in general, our funding package and whatnot about this going forward in that way. Thank you, council member Juan Carlos Gonzalez. We have been, we did provide some updates to our local contacts with both federal highway

1:13:31 administration and federal transit administration today on the scope and these numbers, and we have work to do ahead of us with them to understand how this relates to the 100 million that's been allocated and to make sure that we are understanding the best pathway to move forward with the capital investment grant program. So that is work ahead of us. They are learning this information like the rest of the region is today, and they know we have many meetings on the books with them to review both the cost information. They participated in the initiating workshop last year, so we want to make sure they catch up with them on how we've used that information to this point to finalize this information and also to update them as we document our assumptions in the initial finance plan. So there's work ahead there and we're committed to doing good transparent work with them. Thanks. Thanks, Carly.

1:14:29 Just more process questions since I know that we have some big decisions to make here in the short term. So with the core project phase and also with the extension of the overall project over time, I'm wondering what the opinion or perspective is around the LPA as it currently stands and if that kind of needs to be updated or adopted as we move forward or, I mean, it feels like, again, a significant shift in what was originally scoped for. And then also in the long run, if there's any kind of NEPA work that might be expected with the new 2045 phasing and things like that. So that'll do it for me on process, but appreciate any insight you can share with me. So all of the work in the five mile program is covered under the NEPA process. The states remain committed to that body of work and the FSCIS does describe sequencing as a component of delivering the program.

1:15:27 So the extent of light rail, which is different here in that sort of first step, but long term is still intended to be at the Evergreen station. All of that work, just it's the timeframe delivery certainly is changing and is anticipated to be different, but our commitment to bring those improvements forward hasn't changed. So I think it is within the bounds of the NEPA document. If there are changes or adjustments that need to be made, certainly reevaluation is an activity that often happens on large projects and may happen, but I think within the construct of where we're at, we need to continue advancing that and it covers the content that we discussed here sufficiently. Okay. Thank you. I do. Thank you, Carly. I do have like more questions and comments, but I can wait for after public comments since they're not related to kind of core project or finding or the, or what was just presented. So back to you, Lisa. Thanks. Okay.

1:16:26 Thank you. Really good comments. Good questions. Are there any other partners that have any other questions or comments before I open it up to our public commenters? Okay. At this time, we'll go ahead and pull the slides back up and if you have joined by Zoom, we ask that you click the raise hand and I will call on you. If you've joined by phone, please press star nine to raise your hand. We will ask you to unmute and once we send the message for you to unmute, we'd like for you to go ahead and comment by dialing star six to unmute and to provide comment. We would like for you to provide your name and affiliation. Attendees will be allocated up to two minutes for public comment.

1:17:20 If we do run out of time, which we are planning to not only invite, but to listen to our public commenters, we will also provide you with information as to how to submit a comment. That's on the screen right now. I'll go ahead and read that again. We invite you to email info@interstatebridge.org with ESG public comment in the subject line. You may also call 888-503-6735, which is our toll free number and state ESG public comment. All written comments must be received prior to 48 hours in advance of each upcoming meeting in order to be distributed to ESG members. We are in contact with our partners on a regular basis, so as we do receive public input, we do want to make sure that we are sharing that with our partners. As a reminder, ESG members will not respond in this space, but we are listening. We ask that you be respectful and that your remarks remain within two minutes.

1:18:20 I will step in if you exceed this time, and I will invite you to follow up directly with the program. I just want to share that ahead of time. I know it's always a bit disruptive when the facilitator needs to jump in, but we will be doing that so that we can ensure that everyone has an opportunity to provide public comment. At this time, I am seeing that we have three that have raised their hand to address the ESG, and so what I'd like to do is go ahead and invite Bob Orblatt to go ahead and kick us off. Bob, can you hear me? I can hear you. Can you hear me? Okay. I can. Thank you, Bob. Go ahead and address the executive steering group. Well, thank you. I'm Bob Orblatt, a Washington resident and 40 years a civil engineer and certified public accountant.

1:19:19 I have submitted quite a bit of public comment. I hope you read it. The governor today suggested we look at cost savings opportunities. The bridge looks like it's going to be at least $6 billion. If you look at what they're doing in British Columbia, they're building a burst tunnel that would solve the exact same problem for half the price. It's also longer and deeper than what we would need in the Columbia River. You can also look at the article I submitted about Antwerp. I was recently in Antwerp and went through the reverse tunnel there. They're building a new one. They're building a tunnel almost 40% longer, a comparable size that we would need for less than a billion dollars, so there's some absolute cost savings. They're building this, you're asking for RF requests for proposals.

1:20:18 For years I've been saying, "Why not request a tunnel alternative?" The IBR fraudulently disqualified one many years ago. I approved it. It was a fraudulent report. They still contend their report is accurate. Again, study the material, an immersed tunnel would have much less environmental damage. I cannot believe the mayor of Vancouver would accept the massive approaches that are literally going to destroy the Vancouver waterfront and the other approaches on the other side, Hayden Island, are just totally unpopular. Nobody in Hayden Island wants the approaches. They're very supportive of an immersed tunnel. Thank you very much. Thank you, Bob. I see we have one other hand. We did have another hand that was raised, so if you are interested in providing public

1:21:14 comment, please raise your hand, but at this time I will go ahead and invite Ron Arp to share any feedback and comments with the Executive Steering Group. Ron? Can you hear me, Ron? There we go. I think we can now. Thank you. Good afternoon, Chair Schauer and the committee. I'm Ron Arp, president of the business leaders group, Identity Clark County and coordinator of the Clark County Transportation Alliance and the Southwest Washington Freight and Commerce Task Force. We appreciate the work of this group and all of those involved over the last 10 years as the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program has progressed from a conversation in Olympia to an updated program on track to earn federal record of decision by summer. We recognize that the program is moving toward construction at a time when construction costs are rising rapidly for complicated projects.

1:22:12 We were delighted to hear that a traffic stopping lifespan can be eliminated, saving taxpayers $1.7 billion. Construction projects everywhere are facing significant inflationary pressures. We note that repairing the Key Bridge in Baltimore is two and a half times the original estimate just two years ago. The best hedge against inflation is to get concrete and steel in the ground. That's why we support moving now with the first of some 29 bid packages recognizing the work likely will spread out over 10 to 20 years as the funding becomes available. These last 10 years have been a race to the starting line. So let's wave the green flag and get this project underway. Thank you. Thank you, Ron, I'm not seeing any other hands raised in the virtual space. Again, if the public is seeing this information, there's a lot here today. We invite you to please reach out to the program and provide your feedback.

1:23:10 At this time, I'm going to go ahead and turn it back over to Farley to wrap up and describe next steps. Thank you, Lisa. So we do have critical upcoming milestones as we've referenced previously, but we do intend to continue working with the Executive Steering Group and having a progress update with you folks this summer. As we've noted, the NEPA process, which is the gateway to construction, we are working to complete that with publishing the final supplemental environmental impact statement and getting that record of decision. We'll be working with Metro, RTC, C-TRAN and TriMet to obtain those needed signatures on the final SEIS. Over the next several months, we're going to be updating the program's finance plan. That will include advancing the construction sequencing and funding strategies and working

1:24:08 to execute the FHWA bridge investment program grant and mega grant. Also, we will be working to transition to delivery with the expectation for a request for qualifications in the middle of 2026 and an RFP request for proposals to follow. We are currently working at the program to ensure a transition from the environmental and planning phase of the program to construction. Next slide. Just in closing, I do want to reiterate what we've heard from Secretary Meredith and Director Sumption. The states are committed to building out the five-mile program over time in partnership with all of you. We do intend to move forward with bridge replacement and a contract and next steps for those critical connections this year.

1:25:04 And we commit to more frequent program and cost updates at key milestones. And we also have work to do as we transition from the environmental and planning phase to construction. And we look forward to partnering with you through all of that. Thank you. Thank you, Carly. I want to thank our ESG members for your participation and your continued partnership. We did start the day on the IVR program with Governor Ferguson and I thought maybe I would just add as we wrap up two quotes. The final quote is Governor Ferguson said today there are two things that are certain. We must replace this bridge and number two, delaying a project is never made costs go down. The cheapest bridge you build is the one that you start today. And maybe just to wrap up with our two advisory groups that have sun-setted for the first phase of this project, one of our community members is infamous for saying the best bridge is the bridge that gets built. And so with that, thank you for your time.

1:26:03 Thank you for your continued work with the IVR program. And at this time I'll go ahead and all the meeting completed and we appreciate everyone's time. Oh, I am sorry, Councilor Gonzalez. Hey, Lisa, yeah, sorry. I know we're trying to adjourn the meeting. I should have asked all my questions earlier before public comment, but there are still two things that I wanted to touch on, which is jobs and then funding. So I know that like through the core project phase that the first big package is going to be led by our friends at WSDOT. So I have a lot of confidence in y'all for sure. And I want to make sure that I can communicate to my stakeholders and my constituents how we ensure a big portion and a fair portion of those jobs in the construction package go to Oregonians as well. So can you help me understand that as well?

1:27:01 I think the economic impacts of the construction are significant and I want to make sure that we're able to land the plane on that. And then I have a question for the DOTs, probably for Lisa on the Oregon side, but, you know, as we consider the large funding delta on the project, both on the Oregon side for transit and all the other things, I'm really curious to hear how you're thinking about how we fund this project, but also balance our other investments like Rose Quarter, Sunrise Corridor, 82nd Avenue, Spalton Valley Highway, West Rapid Transit and kind of priorities. So anyway, I want to just put those two questions out there before we wrap up. Thanks. - Thank you, Council Member Juan Carlos Gonzalez. We understand that jobs are an incredibly great opportunity that we bring to the region. There are sort of core contracting assumptions that are built into WSDOT's program.

1:27:58 There is critical coordination with Oregon, so they make sure that there's access to those jobs and those opportunities, both in Oregon and Washington. Certainly there is detail to work out there and we know there's interest and we look forward also to talking with regional partners about the tools and tactics they use so we understand what those are and figure out how to build them into the program over time. So there's work there to continue to do. I know that you have interest there and we also have interest in having those jobs come to the region. So I'm committing to work on that going forward. - Thank you, Carly. - Councilor Gonzalez, I am so sorry that I didn't circle back to you before I wrapped up. We do have a little bit of time. So if there's any other partners that have any other comments, I certainly don't want to close the meeting. - There was a question for Lisa Sumption from WSDOT as well. Yeah, I bundled them. Yeah. - I was like, "Darn, I'm gonna get out."

1:28:58 No, just kidding. - No. - Commissioner, thank you very much for the question. So I look at it like this, I feel like today is reconfirming the commitment from all of us as partners to be able to go back and have that conversation around how we're gonna prioritize all these projects, all of these infrastructure needs. And so I think it's gonna take everyone who's coming to the table and convincing all of our policymakers, whether it's at the local level, the state level, their federal level, that this is worth investing in, and I feel like we now can start talking and working more closely together. So I look forward to working with you and figuring out how we can do more of that. - Thank you. - I just wanna follow up and make sure both questions that you asked were responded to before I move on. - Yes. - Thank you. Okay. Any other questions or comments? Okay. All right, Carly, anything else you might wanna add?

1:29:57 - Just that I sincerely appreciate everybody's commitment. I know that I'm sitting in a different seat. I've been participating alongside this program for a long time, participated in the last program. It's incredibly exciting to be at a moment where we actually start to advance to construction. Having seen things fall apart last time, it's really heartening to be at this moment, and I really appreciate the partnership of everyone here and help bring that forward and the partnership going forward to figure out how we do this together and how we continue to build the first steps and the future steps all together. So just really appreciate that. Thank you. - Thank you, Carly. Thank you all for attending. Appreciate the partnership.