As Oregon’s legislative session winds down, lawmakers’ final days in Salem could spell the final days of the Columbia River Crossing.

Gov. John Kitzhaber has said he’ll pull the plug on the proposed Interstate 5 Bridge replacement if lawmakers don’t approve it this session. The governor set a March 9 deadline — this Sunday — for that to happen.

The bill authorizing the $2.9 billion project has yet to come to a vote in either chamber. Many believe it doesn’t have the support to survive. And though nothing is final until the gavel falls, CRC leaders are already preparing to close down the project if they come up empty — a prospect that appears increasingly likely.

“Absent any word, we are prepared to absolutely follow the governor’s direction, and we will have an announcement at the proper time,” said Dave Thompson, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Transportation. “We are preparing a shutdown plan.”

The CRC became an Oregon-led effort after the Washington Legislature authorized no money for it last year. The move effectively pulled Washington out of the project. More than half the CRC’s staff packed up and moved on as the project began to close down, only to re-emerge later as a pared-down version led by ODOT and TriMet, the Portland-area transit agency.