case study

Interstate Bridge Replacement Program

Client: WSP, WSDOT, ODOT, Parametrix

Challenge

The Interstate Bridge Replacement program is a regional transportation mega project charged with modernizing how communities cross the Columbia River between Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington. The program has a complex history and vast range of stakeholders representing diverse needs, values, and priorities. This project, known as the Columbia River Crossing, failed in 2010 to achieve critical funding. Achieving consensus to replace the Interstate 5 bridge, to embed community input and to ensure adequate funding during a time of increasing inflation creates multiple challenges to successfully rebuilding this needed infrastructure.

Solutions

Our work has helped to humanize this large, complicated public project. Our efforts have pushed this project to authentically engage with the community members who will benefit from its outcome. To date, we have engaged with over 100,000 community members.

  • TransComm Skills Contest Winner | Public Involvement Approach

  • PRSA Oregon Spotlight Award | Social Media Video Shorts

  • PRSA Oregon Spotlight Award | Website

  • PRSA Oregon Merit Award | Video Program

  • PRSA Oregon Spotlight Award | Social Media

  • PRAS Oregon Spotlight Award | DEI/Multicultural Public Relations

  • Image 1: PointNorth staff with a camera crew on a dock
  • Image 2: Four women wearing hard hats and safety vests, smiling
  • Image 3: A man and a woman wearing hard hats and safety vests, smiling
  • Image 4: A woman looking at a blueprint
  • Image 5: A woman wearing a GoPro on a hard hat in front of a bridge

Services

  • Direct Community Outreach

  • Community Survey Development

  • Community Group Facilitation

  • Internal Communications

  • Video Production

  • Graphic Design & Visual Storytelling

  • Communications Plans and Strategy

  • Messaging

  • Outreach Materials

  • Advisory Group Formation

People talking at an event informational booth
  • Graphic shows

  • PointNorth has been and continues to be a tremendously valuable team member of the Interstate Bridge Replacement effort. Their innovative and creative strategies for communications, public engagement, and public relations have raised the bar for transportation mega projects across the country.

    Greg Johnson, Program Administrator