Assistant Director of the Oregon Department of Transportation Travis Brouwer presented the ODOT budget through the year 2029 at a recent meeting of the Mid-Willamette Valley Area Commission on Transportation. ODOT has two budgets. Transportation Projects and Maintenance and Operations. Transportation Projects are paid for primarily from grants. Maintenance and Operations relies on revenues from state sources. 5% of Maintenance and Operations comes from the Federal government “Fund Exchange Program”. Those are from IIJA Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act dollars. Currently all maintenance and operations are fully funded but that is expected to change soon.

ODOT projects a budget deficit starting in fiscal 2023-2024. By 2029 ODOT projects the accumulated deficit to be near $400 million. ODOT is exploring increases in fees coupled with diminishing Maintenance and Operations work on roadways. Brouwer says cities and counties will have to do the majority of work on their own roads in the future.

State government has doubled in size in the last 10 years while the population of Oregon has gained 10.6%. Portland is currently experiencing a net outflow of population. The number of roadways has remained constant to serve the increase in population. Projects have improved traffic flow on existing roadways. Maintenance and Operations dollars have maintained existing roadways with increased revenues going to implement policy favoring alternatives to automobiles and to fuels that address an unquantified need to address climate change assumed to be global warming. ODOT added social equity to Maintenance and Operations. ODOT has an inelastic response to projected changes in revenues. Layoffs haven’t been mentioned.

Tolling of I-5 and I-205 from south of Wilsonville to Vancouver may be on the November 2024 ballot if IP-4 gains the necessary 200,000 valid signatures by June of 2024. Polling on tolling found that nearly 80% of Oregonians oppose tolling. All 16 state representatives and senators with districts touching Clackamas County have spoken out against tolling. ODOT will not wait for the results of a vote on tolling to begin work on its implementation. If tolling is not permitted after November 2024 how much will ODOT have spent to develop the infrastructure necessary for tolling? How many will have been hired and trained to administer the program? How many planning dollars will have been spent to map out changes to 82nd and 122nd to make them more pedestrian friendly as an adjunct to tolling?

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Preliminary estimates were that 60% of revenues from tolling would go toward the expense of administering the program. Much of the balance would go to altering surface streets that might otherwise handle toll avoidance overflow. Consumer spending is the driver of our economy. No economic impact study has been attempted to determine the effects removing tolling dollars from consumer’s pockets will have on the economy. A 50 page report by ODOT details in percentages from 0-100% the sliding scale of toll rates that will apply to Oregonians of various income levels.

Brouwer claims that Portland is the last major metropolitan area not tolled. With the exception of some bridges and tunnels, that claim could easily be disputed. ODOT plans an additional lane each way on a two mile stretch of I-205 south of Oregon City as a benefit of tolling. That part of I-205 has not changed in the 50 year history of the freeway and has been a bottleneck for decades. Brouwer claims that resistance to tolling fades in time as citizens come to appreciate the positive effects it brings.

Since Portland area PERS employees are all permanently working from home now their 25,000 sq.ft. building on SW 72nd in Tigard is vacant. ODOT employees don’t feel safe working in downtown Portland. They will vacate their downtown Portland office and move into the former PERS space on SW 72nd soon. Even though the PERS building is not well served by mass transit it does have a large parking lot.


--Tom Hammer

Post Date: 2022-12-24 06:44:19

Last Update: 2022-12-23 21:36:25