A $100 million easter egg for the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program was included in the federal spending package approved by Congress on Tuesday.

The line item for light rail on the Portland-to-Vancouver Interstate 5 bridge replacement was included as part of $1.7 billion in capital investment grants that will be paid through the Federal Transit Administration. It was part of a funding package Congress voted on to end a partial government shutdown, along with a two-week continuing resolution to fund the Department of Homeland Security. President Trump signed the spending package on Tuesday afternoon.

In the years that advocates have worked to replace the Interstate Bridge, light rail has been possibly the biggest point of contention between lawmakers in Washington and Oregon, whose support is key to funding the project.

Views of mass transit in Southwest Washington are largely split along party lines. Many Republican lawmakers argue light rail will be too expensive to build and maintain on a project that already has a ballooning price tag. Democrats have been more supportive, viewing light rail as a necessary element for growing populations in cities like Vancouver.

“Building light rail here will greatly improve connectivity between Vancouver and Portland, delivering a major win-win for Southwest Washington and Oregon,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who serves as vice chair of the Senate appropriations committee.

The $100 million allocation is notable, according to staff in Murray’s office, because of the Trump administration’s aversion to public transit, and because the Interstate Bridge Replacement funding was mentioned specifically by name in the capital investment grant program, making it harder to reallocate those funds for other purposes in the future.

“The problem is the bridge has just gotten too darned expensive,” said Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, a member of the bi-state legislative committee that oversees the I-5 bridge project. “We need to start peeling some things off of this project and light rail is the first thing that gets peeled off, not the thing that gets funded more.”

But peeling off light rail is easier said than done. Mass transit is baked into the set of components in the design known as the “Modified Locally Preferred Alternative,” which outlines the bridge elements agencies partnering on the project have agreed on. Trying to remove it could strain relationships between Oregon and Washington, which have each committed $1 billion for the project, and that could create risky delays for federal funding deadlines.

The full cost of light rail will be hundreds of millions more. A 2024 construction estimate said light rail track and stations alone could cost up to $290 million, and that doesn’t include accompanying bridges, ramps and other infrastructure.

The current $5-$7.5 billion estimated price tag for the full bridge is from 2022. Interstate Bridge Replacement officials have warned local lawmakers that factors including tariffs, inflation and construction delays will cause the price to increase significantly when they release an updated estimate next month.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/02/03/portland-vancouver-interstate-bridge-replacement-federal-spending-package-light-rail/