Opinion: I-5 Expansion EIR Deludes Itself

A $7.5-billion highway expansion project in the Pacific Northwest is in “deep denial,” writes Ryan Packer in The Urbanist, noting that the proposed widening of Interstate 5 and replacement of the Columbia Bridge between Washington and Oregon ignore the well-proven concept of induced demand.

As Packer explains, “After months of delay, the IBR team has finally released its draft environmental review, one of the biggest hurdles left to clear before it can start construction, still targeted for sometime in 2026.”

The project is the largest in Pacific Northwest history and will add two “auxiliary” lanes, rebuild seven interchanges, and extend light rail into Vancouver, Washington. “However, the shiny new document leaves out an essential consideration when it comes to projecting the future effects of I-5 expansion in this long-constrained corridor, an omission that would have been much less noticed in a decade ago but which sticks out like a sore thumb now.”

For Packer, the project is another example of archaic thinking that prioritizes cars and will ultimately create more traffic. “To present the IBR as a climate win, the project team is framing a 23% increase in total traffic as resulting in a net reduction in emissions largely because of a broader transition to electric vehicles that is wholly outside the project’s control. But they also cite a reduction in stop-and-go traffic as leading to future emissions reductions, another myth has has been fully refuted for years.”