Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber signed a bill Tuesday that approves $450 million dollars for the Columbia River Crossing project to build a new Interstate 5 bridge between Portland and Vancouver.

The money is contingent upon Washington State approving its share of the money, the U.S. Coast Guard approving the height of the bridge and the Oregon Treasurer completing a review of the financial plan and revenue expected to be generated from the tolling plan.

Approval by the Washington State legislature is no guarantee, because there's significant opposition to the plan.

Governor Kitzhaber says approving the money now is important to completion of the project. If the money isn't approved, Kitzhaber says the federal government will make it a lower priority and it'll become more difficult to get federal funding which will account for a third of the project's cost. The remainder of the cost for the project will come from tolls.