The Columbia River Crossing project melted down in 2013 when the Washington Senate failed to provide $450 million in construction dollars.

A second effort to replace the Interstate 5 Bridge will try to avoid the same outcome by crafting a finance plan that would allow different components to be built in phases.

Travis Brouwer, the Oregon Department of Transportation’s assistant director for revenue, finance and compliance, told a bistate meeting of Washington and Oregon legislators Friday in Vancouver that the Columbia River Crossing suffered from what he called “a single point of failure.”

It didn’t matter that the federal government gave the project a green light for construction, the Federal Transit Administration was ready to kick in $850 million to extend light rail to Clark College, or the Oregon Legislature had approved $450 million for construction. When the Washington Senate balked at matching Oregon’s contribution, a single setback caused the project to unravel, after years of work and nearly $200 million spent.

Legislators from both states listened to Brouwer’s brief comment about financial resiliency and project phasing. The was no discussion, aside from Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, suggesting a future meeting of the 16-member committee be devoted to the topic.