The Oregon Department of Transportation plans to toll every lane of every interstate in the Portland-metro area within a few years.

The first-in-the-nation regional tolling program would represent a sea change for Oregon drivers, who have paid for their roads via gas taxes. Yet with more-efficient vehicles cutting into gas tax revenue, the Legislature in 2017 authorized ODOT to study tolling. Now those plans are rapidly advancing as part of ODOT’s Regional Mobility Pricing Project.

“The Regional Mobility Pricing Project is a congestion pricing project – the first in the nation to toll all lanes of interstate,” said Lucinda Broussard, director of ODOT’s tolling program.

ODOT’s tolling plans – while not hidden – are perhaps not widely known. In a few years, Portland’s interstates may be ringed with tolls. They would greet commuters on Interstate 205 heading to jobs in Clackamas County as well as those coming from Vancouver, Washington, over the new Interstate Bridge (now in the works) to work in Portland. Amazon truck drivers zipping up from Woodburn would pay tolls, and so to would Intel and Nike employees who use Interstate 5 to get to Washington County.

Tolling could begin in late 2024 with I-205 likely first at the Abernethy Bridge, which links Oregon City and West Linn.

Tolls will reduce traffic while funding improvements – including the addition of a third lane to I-205 and seismic upgrades to the Abernethy Bridge, according to ODOT officials.

“It will not eradicate congestion, but it will smooth it out,” Broussard said.

To date, Oregon has few tolls. Drivers pay a $2 fee to cross the Bridge of the Gods between Oregon and Washington at Cascade Locks. (Motorcyclists pay $1 and multi-axle truck drivers pay more).

For generations, Oregon drivers have used interstates with no tolls, and instead paid far less visible gas taxes. If implemented, tolls risk a political backlash, according to some analysts and elected officials.

“Tolling is not popular on its own,” said John Horvick, senior vice president of DHM Research. “In Oregon, it’s a big change, right? People are not paying directly for the roads like that, so it’s a big change.”

Horvick has conducted dozens of focus groups over the years on transportation funding, including for ODOT. (Horvick said ODOT is not a current DHM client, and DHM has not conducted polls on the proposed tolls). He said voters in general have little understanding of how road construction and maintenance are funded.

“There’s just very low awareness of how transportation is funded at the state level or the local level,” Horvick said. “A sense of what things cost is extremely low as well. When you talk to people about public infrastructure – a bridge, a road – there’s just no conception of what that might cost.”

It’s a lot: about $4.5 billion for the Interstate Bridge Replacement Project, $1.2 billion for the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project and $500 million for the I-205 expansion. Gas tax revenue is not sufficient to cover the tab.

Drivers in much of the U.S., including Seattle, have grown accustomed to tolls, Horvick said.

“These are all solvable problems, but you’re starting from a difficult place,” he said.

ODOT has not said what tolls might cost – a crucial consideration for both revenue and congestion pricing. ODOT is currently modeling tolls, Broussard said. The Portland office of WSP, a Montreal-based engineering services firm, is conducting the modeling, based in part on Metro data.

A key consideration is how much revenue ODOT will need to pay off construction bonds for interstate mega-projects. If used to pay debts, tolls will be significantly higher, said Joe Cortright, a Portland economist who closely follows ODOT.

“There are basically two reasons that you want to toll a roadway: One is economic and one is financial,” he said. “The economic reason is if you charge road users a fee – particularly one that varies based on time and traffic – you can manage the roadway and make it work better. The financial reason is ODOT wants money.”

ODOT’s plans suggest the agency wants to move ahead on tolling before other interests find a use for that money, Cortright said.

“They’re staking their claim to highway tolling revenues up front,” he said. “That will effectively preclude other people from setting up other tolling or using tolling revenue for other purposes.”

The trucking industry is waiting for more details on ODOT’s tolling plans, said Jana Jarvis, president of Oregon Trucking Associations Inc. Jarvis took part in negotiations for House Bill 2017, and agreed at the time that tolling was needed.

“Since that time, ODOT has expanded their vision of what tolling is going to look like in the Portland region,” she said.

How ODOT prices and implements the tolls will be critical, Jarvis said.

“What those tolls will look like will be very important to the trucking industry, and I don’t know the details of that yet,” she said.

Trucking companies are keenly interested in easing congestion on I-5 and I-205, which rate among the worst bottlenecks in the U.S., Jarvis said. Expansions of both are among freight haulers’ high priorities, she added.

“The congestion costs a great deal of money to the trucking industry,” she said.

Local elected officials are concerned that tolls will divert drivers onto surface roads.

“Interstate traffic does not belong in our neighborhoods,” Clackamas County Commissioner Paul Savas said.

Savas said he has pleaded with ODOT to introduce its tolls simultaneously at every location.

“It’s very clear that’s not going to happen,” he said. “It’s very clear they’re going to toll this section (of I-205) first.”

The I-205 project has been in the works longer and will therefore be ready before others, Broussard said. The environmental analysis will identify “pinch points” and inform efforts to reduce traffic diversion, she added.

While many details of ODOT’s tolling program have not been decided, some aspects have become clear. Abernethy Bridge will go first, in the fourth quarter of 2024, Broussard said. The Oregon Transportation Commission will take up pricing about six months prior to that. ODOT will use overhead gantries, not toll booths, and automated payment systems will mean drivers will not have to stop to pay.

Public engagement on the tolling project will soon ramp up, with surveys and webinars coming in April, said Tia Williams, communications director for ODOT’s Urban Mobility Office.

ODOT officials said they are prepared to counter negative public opinion.

“Any time you place a toll anywhere, you should expect some backlash,” Broussard said. “I think that comes with the territory.”

The toll program also has supporters, Broussard said.

“There is support from different community organizations and others who see the congestion relief benefit,” she said.

Cortright said he’s concerned ODOT will issue bonds, locking itself into a legal agreement to repay the debt with toll revenue. That will in turn lead to higher toll prices, which will discourage traffic. The result will be state-of-the-art interstates that are largely empty.

“This isn’t conjecture,” he said. “We know this is how the world works: if you charge tolls, you’ll get less traffic.”

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