The Road More Heavily Traveled

Examining the girders that hold up Fords Bridge on the Umqua River in southwest Oregon, state inspectors noticed a gunpowder-like smell -- a telltale sign of metal fatigue. Then they saw stress cracks that ran like veins through the main supports.

It was March 2001, and for the next three weeks, 2,000 big rigs a day were forced off Interstate 5 while construction crews rebuilt the bridge. Many trucks took winding detours around the Cascade Range, adding hundreds of miles to their trips.

Along the West Coast, transportation costs increased by as much as $200 per shipment. California grocers, Oregon oil companies, Washington dairies and lumber mills in the Pacific Northwest all felt the financial pinch. The American Red Cross had to cut back on blood shipments.

Detours and disruptions on Interstate 5 are becoming increasingly common and costly. A vital commercial artery that crosses three states and links three countries, Interstate 5 is outdated, worn out and overwhelmed with traffic along much of its 1,381-mile length.

Two inexorable trends are pushing the highway toward ruin: steadily increasing traffic and relentless deterioration of its roadway, ramps, overpasses and bridges, particularly in the Pacific Northwest.

"Every bridge on the 5 in Oregon has the potential for a crisis," said Paul R. Mather, who heads a regional office of the Oregon Department of Transportation.

Transportation planners say congestion drives up shipping costs and consumer prices and discourages tourism, putting a drag on the economies of California, Oregon and Washington.

Built in sections starting in 1947, the interstate links major manufacturing and population centers on the West Coast, from Seattle to San Diego. It is the primary north-south route for trucks ferrying goods to and from Mexico, Canada and the West Coast's six primary seaports.

Interstate 5 is also an important transportation corridor for wood products from Oregon and Washington as well as produce from California's San Joaquin Valley, one of the world's richest agricultural regions.

"You can't look at California and the West Coast without focusing on Interstate 5," said former Caltrans Director Jeff Morales. "It is the backbone of the state. It is the backbone of the region."

During the last 25 years, the number of vehicles has at least doubled on most sections of the highway. Yet apart from a few short stretches, the highway has not been substantially improved or widened.