PORTLAND, OR -- Oregon Governor Tina Kotek says transportation funding will be a top priority in the 2025 legislative session. That package is likely to include state funding for the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project.
Winta Yohannes, Executive Director of the Albina Vision Trust, says the project will help undo the racist efforts of urban planner Robert Moses, who designed the interstate to divide the Lower Albina neighborhood, "Then, home to 80% of the city’s Black population. The Albina Robert Moses laid his eyes upon was a bustling residential and commercial hub nestled against the banks of the Willamette."
Moses was hired by the city in 1943. Interstate-5 was built in the 1950s and '60s. JT Flowers, with the Albina Vision Trust, says construction was done in the interest of progress, without regard to the impact on that community, "We know what it means to have floors, posts, beams, windows and foundation pulled from under our feet; to be robbed with a smile."
The US Department of Transportation recently awarded grants totalling $488 million for Albina Vision Infrastructure Projects. Of that, $450 million is for ODOT, the other $38 million was awarded to the city of Portland.
Yohannes says capping the freeway in North Portland will eventually reconnect a community lost decades ago, "This catalytic infusion will restitch the district by constructing a buildable highway cover, transform the streetscape of our neighborhood and accelerate the generational work of rebuilding Albina." She adds, "We are leading America’s largest restorative redevelopment effort. One that centers the rerouting of Black people, families and culture in the core of Portland’s city center."
Congressman Earl Blumenauer says he’s pleased to be part of undoing a piece of the city's racist past, "I feel like I’ve been chasing the ghost of Robert Moses, literally, for 50 years. And too often, he was ahead of us. But slowly but surely, we’ve turned that." He says, "This is the way Portland’s comeback occurs. It goes through Albina; it goes through the partnerships that are being developed. And the half billion dollars is a drop in the bucket." He believes it’ll also rebuild wealth in the community.
The USDOT money is just a portion of what’s needed for the massive project and the state is expected to pitch in.
Photo: Supporters celebrate the $488M allocation of federal money. (l-r) US Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), US Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), US Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), State Rep. Tawna Sanchez (D-North Portland), State Sen. Lew Frederick (D-North Portland), Albina Vision Trust Executive Director Winta Yohannes, Albina Vision Trust Board Chair Mike Alexander, US Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Portland City Commissioner Mingus Mapps.
