Record of Decision

CRC federal oversight agencies, the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration, selected an alternative for the project and signed a record of decision on December 7, 2011. The record of decision identifies a replacement bridge with light rail as the alternative that best improves safety, travel reliability, freight mobility, and bridge structural stability and relieves congestion on Interstate 5 between Portland and Vancouver. The record of decision also contains mitigation commitments for unavoidable impacts.

The record of decision is a significant milestone, which concludes the environmental planning phase under the National Environmental Policy Act. NEPA is a federal law requiring agencies that receive federal funding to consider the impacts to environmental, cultural and social resources from their proposed projects. This NEPA process involved comprehensive analysis with input received from more than 12,000 comments at over 1,000 public meetings.

The ROD is available online for viewing and download.

What happens next?

CRC will continue to engage the community and local agencies in refining project designs and planning for construction. The record of decision enables CRC to stay on schedule and start construction in late 2013. A schedule of the project’s next steps is available online.