PORTLAND, Ore. — As the Interstate Bridge Replacement (IBR) project continues to move through the environmental review process, several questions still loom in the air: What’s the bridge’s design? What’s the timeline? And are there going to be job opportunities for local businesses? In this week’s episode of Straight Talk, Greg Johnson, the program administrator for IBR, and Aiden Gronauer, assistant director of civil rights and equity, join as guests to answer those questions and address the possibility of homes needing to be removed to make way for the new bridge. The proposed $6 billion replacement bridge calls for several new add-ons that the current Interstate Bridge lacks, including a light rail line from Portland to Vancouver, as well as an upgrade to much of the surrounding five miles of freeway — all of which would increase the bridge’s footprint along I-5.
Documents obtained by KGW show that IBR could need to fully or partially acquire 176 parcels, including 43 residential units and 33 businesses, to make room for the replacement bridge. Residents that could be impacted by the new bridge design have told KGW that there hasn’t been a lot of answers given by the IBR team. "They come in and they talk about, you know, 'It's going to be fair, it's going to be equitable, the people that are going to build are going to be-' And I'm like, I don't care about that.
I want to know if what you're going to do with my house — if anything," said Brenda Palmer. "A.
