joined the Multnomah County Commissioners in their support of the 96th Avenue alignment, while the City of Portland declined to endorse a specific plan. The Oregon State Highway Commission had planned to send its own recommendation to the Bureau of Public Roads but delayed action due to a major flood in December 1964 that destroyed several highways. The commissioners considered moving I-205 beyond Portland's city limits to avoid confrontations with the city government, which later opened negotiations after pressure from state legislators. The commission endorsed the Mount Hood—96th Avenue alignment in March 1965. The Portland Planning Commission responded with the 52nd Avenue alignment through Laurelhurst in lieu of wider arterial streets, and also ordered a new east–west option near the Sellwood Bridge and along Johnson Creek to avoid Lake Oswego. In April, the Portland City Council voted 4–1 to reject the state's 96th Avenue alignment but took no action on the Planning Commission's proposed route. Facing a July 1965 deadline on the routing decision imposed by the Bureau of Public Roads, which was later extended to September, the Oregon State Highway Department turned to a new corridor that would avoid the city of Portland. In May 1965, the department proposed an extended version of the 96th Avenue alignment that would continue further south, cross the Willamette River between Oregon City and West Linn, and turn west towards Tualatin. The new alignment would be over the allocated mileage for I-205, which would require additional approval from the BPR, and had been previously proposed in March as part of the Central Clackamas Freeway. The West Linn–96th alignment was given tentative approval by the BPR and was sent by the Oregon State Highway Commission to local governments in June as an "all or nothing" option. While they continued to work on their favored Mount Hood alignment, the City of Portland agreed to cooperate with the state on the new I-205 alignment, which would pass through only a small portion of the Lents neighborhood. On September 8, 1965, the Portland City Council approved the state's West Linn–96th alignment for I-205 following the BPR's rejection of funds for the Mount Hood Freeway. A day earlier, the Washington State Highway Commission, having rejected an earlier proposal from Clark County to extend the freeway to Ridgefield, approved the location of the freeway's bridge over the Columbia River at Government Island, as well as a tentative route through