Completing Portland’s freeway megaproject in the Rose Quarter district is now expected to cost more than $3.2 billion — an increase of more than 50% from the most recent estimate, according to draft internal project records obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Yet the state has secured just $480 million for the project, all of which has already been used or allocated for spending, resulting in a funding gap that may exceed $3 billion and raising questions about whether the project will proceed as planned.
Program administrators say the massive funding gap is actually a main driver of the higher cost estimate, because the lack of funds has forced them to rearrange or delay work that they can’t pay for…