Another freeway expansion megaproject leader has jumped ship – BikePortland

On Friday, Greg Johnson announced he will step down from his role as leader of the Interstate Bridge Replacement project at end of this year. It’s the fourth time in less than a year a high-profile leader with oversight of an I-5 freeway expansion megaproject has walked away.

The exodus comes as the IBR and the I-5 Rose Quarter project — which represent a combined estimated cost of $12 billion in states with massive road funding shortfalls — struggle to gain popular and/or political support in their neverending quest for taxpayer dollars to build larger freeway ramps, widen interstates through neighborhoods, and make driving easier for thousands of people every day.

Late last year, Brendan Finn stepped down from his role as director of the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Urban Mobility Office (UMO). Finn was in charge of delivering several freeway megaprojects in the Portland region that ODOT referred to as their “urban mobility strategy.” Finn faced intense pressure I-5 from the community via protests and lawsuits, as well as frustration over funding delays. After five years with Finn as head of the UMO, the I-5 Rose Quarter project came within a few votes of being paused this past summer.

Megan Channell was Rose Quarter project director and worked closely with Finn for five years. The two began working on the project around the same time, and resigned with seven months of each other. Channell resigned her post just as the Oregon Transportation Commission was considering putting the entire project on ice due to its lack of funding and its persistent lack of political and popular support.

Tiffani Penson took over for Finn as UMO director in February of this year. She lasted just eight months in the position before stepping down (her last day was October 21st). ODOT has also shut down the UMO as the agency continues to grapple with serious budget issues and the future of the I-5 project remains uncertain.

In a story about Penson’s departure, The Oregonian wrote:

“Leadership turnover aside, it’s been a rough year for the [I-5 Rose Quarter] freeway project. In May, project leaders acknowledged that they had not been sufficiently communicative with state officials about progress on the project or its growing budget gap. Soon after, the federal government rescinded most of a $450 million grant for the project that had already been approved. The project’s cost is now projected to reach $2 billion, while its leaders have secured less than $500 million.”

The IBR freeway expansion project begins just a few miles up the freeway from the Rose Quarter. Johnson was hired into his role as “program” administrator, which he liked to describe as being, “a shared resource between the Washington and Oregon departments of transportation.” His departure (coming at the end of this year) was announced Friday by the project team.

In a message to members of the project’s Community Advisory Group, Johnson said the decision to leave was “purely personal.” “I have the utmost confidence that getting shovels in the ground is just around the corner,” Johnson wrote. “Now is the time that makes sense for me to transition off and make way for the next evolution of the Program as we continue to shift towards delivery.” 

But journalists paint a different picture. Late last month, the Washington State Standard reported,

“The torturously slow pace and increasingly expensive price to replace the Interstate 5 bridge across the Columbia River have some Oregon and Washington lawmakers growing uneasy and frustrated. After years of planning and lining up billions of dollars in state and federal funding, it continues to be an educated guess when construction will start, how much the project will cost and what the new bridge will look like when traffic finally drives over it.”

With all these recent leadership changes adding to the uncertainty, it might be a question of “if” — not “when” — these projects get built.