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One of the top priorities for the 2025 Oregon Legislature was transportation funding, and the group failed to pass a bill. It鈥檚 nothing new 鈥� for two decades Oregon has failed to provide adequate funding to preserve roads and bridges. Engineers have warned that insufficient funding increases the cost in the future because the projects get bigger as conditions worsen. They were ignored and now the future is here.

What happens if we don鈥檛 pay?

The effects of not paying are not immediate. Sections of almost every Oregon highway need maintenance, but waiting probably won鈥檛 cause a catastrophic failure. The pavement will get rougher and the projects will take longer when the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) finally gets to them, but life will go on as usual. When the work eventually happens, drivers may get annoyed by work zone traffic, but no one will know that the project would have cost half as much and taken half as long if the work was done when it should have been done.

Oregon has been lucky because underfunding roads and bridges has had catastrophic consequences elsewhere. Minnesota, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and plenty of other states have experienced tragic fatalities from deteriorating bridges. Pavement usually doesn鈥檛 make headlines, but accidents when someone swerves to avoid a pothole, hydroplanes, or fails to see striping are caused by deteriorating pavement. The effects are real and serious.

Underfunding roads and bridges also exponentially increases the overall cost. The need to fix roads and bridges obviously does not go away as they deteriorate. It鈥檚 what the engineers have been saying for decades 鈥� the problems become bigger and what could have been addressed with routine maintenance will require reconstruction if not maintained.

鈥淲e can maintain them now for $15 (million) to $20 million per year or pay $70 (million) to $100 million per year to rehabilitate them after they have severely deteriorated,鈥� ODOT鈥檚 pavement management engineer said of lower-volume highways in the agency鈥檚 .

The same principle applies to all roads and bridges 鈥� it鈥檚 much cheaper to maintain them now than wait.

Can Oregonians afford to pay more?

Ask your friends and family how much they pay for roads and bridges and most of them will say $1,000 or more per year, which is a gross exaggeration. We pay for roads and bridges primarily through fuel taxes, so how much you pay depends on your vehicle and how much you drive. Drivers with fuel-efficient cars pay about $350 per year and those with trucks pay about $550 per year. Electric-vehicle drivers pay much less.

Oregon has a relatively high gas tax rate but comparing it to the rates in other states is a false comparison because most other states have some other major sources of transportation revenue. Utah, for instance, uses sales taxes and general fund transfers that together provide more than three times the Utah gas tax. In fact, Utah has fewer lane miles than Oregon and its transportation funding is about 30 percent more. In Virginia, different types of sales and use taxes together provide nearly double the state gas tax. Oregonians pay less for roads and bridges than the citizens of most other states when all revenue sources are considered.

If you have a dog, you probably pay more for dog food than for roads. I have nothing against dogs, but they don鈥檛 help you travel to a hospital in a medical emergency. Roads also allow us to drive to the grocery store, transport our kids to school, and support all aspects of our way of life. Roads and bridges are essential yet relatively inexpensive.

What about climate change?

Some people think Oregon should shift to some other transportation system to fight climate change. There is, however, no other option. In fact, the best thing Oregon could do to reduce emissions is make the roads smoother. Anyone who has ridden a bike on both bumpy and smooth surfaces knows that it鈥檚 easier to ride on the latter. That is magnified significantly for cars and trucks.

Even if everyone switched to electric vehicles, we would still need roads and bridges. In fact, minimizing demand on the electrical grid as people switch to electric vehicles will become a crucial issue 鈥� one that requires smooth roads (smoother roads require significantly less energy to use, which means less electricity is needed to charge vehicles). Electric vehicles are also heavier and over time do more damage than conventional vehicles. Ironically, electric-vehicle drivers think they are fighting climate change, but by not paying gas taxes and driving heavier vehicles on roads, they鈥檙e contributing to greater carbon emissions overall.

Smooth roads also save gas-powered vehicle drivers money 鈥� smoother roads require less energy to use, which means drivers buy less gas. Earlier this year, researchers at Oregon State University published a study in which they found that if ODOT could slightly improve highway smoothness, Oregonians would save an average of $73 million per year, and there would be 192 million fewer metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, according to .

How important are local construction workers?

Most of the money for any highway project goes to pay for materials and workers 鈥� all of whom are paid family wages. Those workers pay state and federal taxes and use the remainder of their paychecks to support themselves and their families 鈥� in other words, part of their pay goes back to the state and the remainder helps sustain communities in Oregon where they live. The same cannot be said for industries where manufacturing and services are largely based in other states and countries.

The Legislature needs to act

I don鈥檛 envy the Legislature鈥檚 position because no voter likes tax increases. However, it鈥檚 the Legislature鈥檚 job to provide adequate funding for roads and bridges. Oregon鈥檚 decades-old model of demanding more from roads and bridges without increasing funding is unsustainable 鈥� the Legislature needs to act NOW.

Increasing funding to allow ODOT to deliver a smoother system requires significant investment, but the investment will pay for itself over time because it creates a system that is safer and cheaper to use; it also will be more durable and reduce emissions. Good roads cost money and bad roads cost more. Oregon cannot afford to do nothing.

John Hickey is the executive director of the Asphalt Pavement Association of Oregon. Contact him at 503-363-3858 or [email protected].

The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed in the preceding commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Daily Journal of Commerce or its editors. Neither the author nor the 91视频 guarantees the accuracy or completeness of any information published herein.