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VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) — The governors of Washington and Oregon are meeting to announce their joint plan to revive the Columbia River Crossing project.
The project seeks to replace the aging Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River.
KING5 reports that Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, who are meeting Monday in Vancouver, Washington, have both expressed interest in bringing the project back.
The current bridge poses seismic risks, according to officials, and is also a source of major congestion.
The Columbia River Crossing started in 2004 as a bi-state megaproject to replace and modernize the existing stretch of I-5 that currently connects Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington. The project came to a halt in 2013 when Washington lawmakers decided not to pay their share of the project.
The plans went dormant for several years until December 2018 when Gov. Inslee included $17.5 million in his budget to open a project office for the purpose of replacing the I-5 bridge.
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