Readers respond: Empty promises on I-5 expansion Updated 6:00 AM; Why do claims that the Interstate 5 improvement project will provide restorative justice to the neighborhood I grew up in ring hollow? In 2019, the Audubon Society of Portland, Opal’s Environmental Justice and several other groups asked for the Oregon Department of Transportation to conduct a complete Environmental Impact Statement, but ODOT refused to. Now, Neighbors for Clean Air, Eliot Neighborhood Association and No More Freeways have decided to sue to get a full study. This $800 million freeway expansion project will sit right at Harriet Tubman Middle School’s back door, and the school already reduces student time outside because of poor air quality.