Motorists adjust as I-5 closed for bridge replacement

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Construction to replace a 65-year-old I-5 bridge over Southwest 26th Avenue forced the closure of all lanes this weekend in Portland, forcing motorists to use detours that snarled traffic and frustrated drivers.

“I knew about the closure. I didn’t realize until I got onto Barbur what the impact was going to be because I haven’t thought about the alternate routes,” driver Brian Seidman of Portland said. “It’s pretty intense.”

“My commute has been very slow,” said Lori Wiechec of Tigard. “Where it would have taken me five minutes to where I am now, I’ve been in the car for 40 minutes. Now I’m an hour late where I’m going to Southeast Portland.”

“I did see an increase in traffic more than normal. then within an hour-and-a-half it started picking up and getting much louder,” said Richard Martin of Tigard. “There was a lot of traffic happening at that point. It picked up right until 3 o’clock.”

This phase of the bridge rebuild, which began in Spring 2023, began Friday night and will continue until 5 a.m. Monday as crews remove the top of the existing bridge over 26th Avenue.

The closure runs southbound between the Southwest Terwilliger off-ramp and the Capitol Highway on-ramp, as well as northbound between the Southwest Barbur Boulevard off-ramp and the Terwilliger on-ramp.

Don Hamilton with the Oregon Department of Transportation said closing down all six lanes over this 4-mile stretch actually costs less, cuts down on construction time and creates fewer traffic and environmental impacts.

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“This bridge itself is 65 years old and it’s really at the end of its useful life,” Hamilton said. “It’s not seismically strong enough to withstand an earthquake. It really needs to be replaced right now. It sees 100,000 cars a day.”

Joseph Podbielan of Portland said the construction was “a bit of a nuisance. … It’s definitely putting plans back a little bit.”

Seidman took the long view.

“We had a whole bunch of bridge collapses around the country in the last couple of years,” Seidman said “We need these infrastructure projects to happen so if we have to be inconvenienced to make that happen, it’s better than people dying.”

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