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Financing infrastructure is always a challenge – and nowhere more than in Portland where we are in front-row seats to a slugfest led by Mayor Charlie Hales and City Councilman Steve Novick.

The challenges that are being dealt with by the interested parties demonstrate that this issue is not a slam dunk. The inability to quickly pass an additional source of revenue for repair of infrastructure that everybody uses tells us that Portlanders don’t see this as an issue worthy of significant public support.

This additional funding request is not a particularly forward-thinking concept. It is needed to take care of matters of immediate concern, such as sidewalks on busy streets to be sure that our children can get safely to school. Walking is, after all, a legitimate form of transportation.

The contradiction between providing for fundamental maintenance of an existing infrastructure system and the spending of additional dollars for new systems is glaring. The Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Project is a multibillion-dollar investment in forward-thinking transportation planning. Once built, however, will it fall victim to a similar attitude on maintenance and capital reinvestment as the street system has? Will it also not be upgraded in the future when new planning strategies suggest that the existing system does not meet the contemporary requirements of its future day?

After all, that is exactly what the street fee issue is all about. It is about upgrading a system put in place perhaps a half a century ago to meet the lifestyle and economic requirements of 2015.

The history of the construction of major projects has always been that projects are permanent. It may be, however, that this premise is itself obsolete. Systems and projects may not decay or wear out, but become functionally obsolete. They simply don’t suit people in the way that they choose to live today. Furthermore, the one-size-fits-all approach is not capable of meeting the diverse needs of today’s Oregonians.

The mindset deriving from the difficult economic conditions of the past several years has appropriately conditioned Portlanders to examine expenditures more carefully and to demand accountability from those who are in charge. Recent economic trends, however, indicate that the national economy is on a significant recovery trajectory. The challenges of the last few years must not be forgotten, but put in context.

The very nature of our technological advances has disrupted the funding source that has traditionally been a reliable foundation for infrastructure maintenance. As technology reduces gasoline consumption, a significant revenue source will no longer be able to provide the support it has. While tolls are not acceptable as a revenue source to this local population, the current conversation about fees is no different. The questions are the same: how much must be paid, what will be spent, how much will be spent and who will look over the expenditures.

Christian Steinbrecher is president of Columbia River Port Engineers Inc. and the immediate past president of the Oregon Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers. He is the editor of ASCE Oregon’s Report Card on Oregon’s Infrastructure. Contact him at cfs@[email protected].