Burnside Bridge earthquake project delayed until 2028

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Despite the ever-looming threat of a major earthquake hitting the Cascadia Subduction Zone, efforts to reinforce Portland’s Burnside Bridge have been delayed.

Multnomah County leaders decided to extend the design phase for the years-long Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge Project until 2028 — a year behind schedule.

Officials said the decision comes during a period of uncertainty on a federal level. By delaying the bridge’s construction, Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said the county will be able to find more opportunities to cut costs.

“The County remains committed to resilience projects like the Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge Project, which are critical for our region,” Vega Pederson said. “This seismically resilient bridge will not only provide much needed infrastructure, it will be an immediately usable lifeline route for emergency responders in the wake of a major earthquake, increase multi-modal transit options and help us meet climate goals for the long term.”

The project, which began in 2019, has worked with several groups – including engineers, architects, and other agencies – for aesthetic plans, structural components, costs and long-term maintenance needs. In September, the county announced that an inverted-Y, cable-stay design had been approved.

Multnomah County Transportation Director Jon Henrichsen told KOIN 6 News they had been counting on grant funding but are now unsure whether they can expect federal money during the Trump Administration.

“Agencies are being reduced. Agencies that oversee the project and the regulatory environment of the project, including the environmental regulations that the project is built in, are experiencing changes in their mandates,” Henrichsen said. “So we’re kind of waiting to see how all that works out.”

Henrichsen said the bridge project — with an 895 million dollar budget — will be difficult to get done without the help of federal money. Multnomah County is dealing with money issues of its own, though he also added that the transportation’s budget will not be impacted

“We can’t really start construction until we have enough money to complete the whole bridge, because we’re building the new bridge, on the same alignment as the existing bridge,” he said. “We’re going to have to take the existing bridge out of service. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. And we can’t risk not having enough money to put the old bridge back in place.”

The project aims to replace the Burnside Bridge with a bridge that will withstand a Cascadia Subduction Zone quake, which is expected in the zone every 300-500 years.

According to Multnomah County, the project is necessary because no vehicular bridges that cross the Willamette River would be usable after the “The Big One.” As of 2025, the only bridge currently thought capable of surviving the shock is the Wapato Bridge connecting Portland to Sauvie Island.

Jan. 26, 2025, marked the 325th anniversary of the most recent earthquake — a massive magnitude 9 quake spanning Northern California to British Columbia.

However, Henrichsen said the delay does not mean the project is not a priority for the county.

“It’s not unusual for a big project like this to experience delays, or to get the timeline pushed back a bit because they’re complex,” he said. “But it doesn’t have anything to do with the importance of the project to Multnomah County. It’s really just the situation that we’re in.”