Skip to main contentOregon drivers take note: The planned replacement of the Tappan Zee Bridge 25 miles north of New York City offers some insightful information for followers of the Columbia River Crossing project.
Like the CRC, the Tappan Zee project, which spans the Hudson River between Westchester and Rockland counties, depends on low-interest federal loans and tolling revenues as central parts of its finance plan.
But the Associated Press reported over the weekend that the federal loans will be a far smaller portion of the project than sponsors had budgeted for—one-third of the $3.9 billion price-tag instead of a half.
Currently, the slimmed-down, $2.8 million, Oregon-only version of the CRC anticipates a federal grant of $850 million to pay for light-rail and a low interest federal loan of $900 million. Critics of the CRC, including U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.), who represents Clark County, have questioned whether those funds are actually available.
If the project moves forward and the federal government provides substantially less support as it appears to be doing in New York, there are two options to make up the difference.
The first is tolling revenue.
CRC sponsors have consistently provided overly optimistic tolling projections and as recently as last week, Portland economist Joe Cortright unearthed new information about how inaccurate CRC numbers are.
That would place more pressure on the second source of funding, state borrowing. State Treasurer Ted Wheeler, who must approve the CRC finance plan before the project can move forward, has produced new analysis showing that a shortfall in federal funding could push the project into the red, because the state's borrowing costs are higher than the federal government's borrowing costs.
Oregon's authorization to fund the CRC expired yesterday. Lawmakers are in special session right now, but a spokesman for House Speaker Tina Kotek (D-Portland) says there are no plans to revive the project in this session.
WWeek 2015