The cost of widening and capping Interstate 5 through Portland’s Rose Quarter could now eclipse $2 billion, an acknowledgement that drew scathing comments from Oregon transportation commissioners on May 8.

The revised cost estimate for the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project — the first since 2023 — shows a price tag of between $1.96 billion and $2.08 billion. That’s a sizable increase from the last estimate, which anticipated costs from $1.5 billion to $1.9 billion.

The news comes as the Oregon Department of Transportation is under increasing fire from lawmakers and the public for projects that have soared well beyond initial cost assumptions. The department is trying to convince the Legislature to approve billions in additional taxpayer money for highway megaprojects, including the Rose Quarter, that were supposed to be paid for with a 2017 spending package.

“We have a credibility problem right now,” Julie Brown, chair of the Oregon Transportation Commission, said at a hearing on the new estimate Thursday. “I think that there’s a commitment from all of us to get us out of that situation to where we are credible.”

The Rose Quarter project would widen a bottleneck on Interstate 5 through the heart of Portland, adding one auxiliary lane in either direction and altering highway ramps. It would also build extensive improvements to the area around the interstate, including a massive highway cap meant to stitch together the historically Black Albina neighborhood, which was decimated when I-5 was built.

Oregon Public Broadcasting is a news partner of the Portland Tribune. Their full story can be found at opb.org.