With less than six months until the start of Oregon’s 2027 legislative session, state leaders are hoping to leave the transportation funding failures of 2025 in the rearview mirror.

Seven lawmakers met with Gov. Tina Kotek’s Rebuilding Our Transportation Vision workgroup on Tuesday to discuss what they need to successfully pass a funding bill.

For one, legislators need to prioritize “getting the damn bill out much, much, much earlier,” so negotiations can begin, said Rep. Mark Gamba, D-Milwaukie.

The text of the main 2025 bill, which collapsed in the final days of the session, was released with less than a month of the six-month legislative session remaining. Democratic leaders announced a framework in April, despite hinting at the release of one as early as February.

Those ideas followed months of meetings with transportation stakeholders throughout the state. But the plan ultimately came too late, said Rep. David Gomberg, D-Otis.

He expressed concern that the group’s timeline of holding a final meeting in November would lead to a repeat of 2025. Lawmakers don’t have time to wait “like excited children for Christmas” to hear their findings, he said.

“We’re going to be going into session mere weeks after that and we need the time to take your ideas and make sure that there is a consensus, a bipartisan consensus of support, to move this forward to some kind of success,” Gomberg said.

He asked the group, which contains no current lawmakers, to keep them updated.

The workgroup’s final report will be delivered to Kotek. The report is meant to “provide a framework of viable and sensitive solutions” the legislature can build on, Kotek’s transportation advisor, Kelly Brooks, said.

Whatever is proposed will have to be sensitive to voters’ distaste for new costs.

Lawmakers ultimately passed a pared-down funding bill in a 2025 special session along party lines. That stopped looming job cuts at the Oregon Department of Transportation.

The collection of signatures to refer to voters the plans that included a 6-cent-per-gallon increase to the gas tax began almost immediately.

Voters overwhelmingly opposed the new costs in May, but significant cuts and layoffs at the agency were mitigated by a revenue rebalance that lawmakers passed months earlier in anticipation of the defeat.

This time, legislators will be looking to fund ODOT with at least $200 million for the upcoming two-year budget cycle, which begins in July 2027. That money would maintain current service levels but result in a smaller agency than in years past.

Getting Oregonians to understand the funding needed to keep the state’s roads and bridges operating is “literally the most important thing,” Gamba said.

While the full proposal may be months away, Oregonians shouldn’t be surprised if it contains some sort of widespread charge tied to vehicle miles traveled or road usage.

Lawmakers of both parties support expanding such a program, said Rep. Susan McLain, D-Hillsboro.

Oregon has an existing opt-in program for electric and some fuel-efficient vehicles. Under the 2025 special session bill, the program was broadened and by the end of 2028 all drivers of electric or hybrid vehicles will be participants or pay an annual fee instead.

Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Dundee, the lone Republican legislator on the panel and one of the chief petitioners for the referendum effort, said he was encouraged by the other lawmakers’ comments and echoed the need for bipartisanship.

Gomberg and Starr both referenced a proposal from former Sen. Rick Metsger, D-Welches, to split the agency in two as a bigger potential change. One would focus on road maintenance and safety while the other would take on large projects.

To truly be successful, ODOT needs to focus on its core mission, and it needs a permanent director, Starr said.

“To think that we’re gonna have solved this problem without having a permanent director who will bring confidence, both in the public and in the legislature, is, I think, a fool’s errand,” he said.

The agency’s former director, Kris Strickler, left his post early this year. Kotek appointed Oregon Parks and Recreation Department Director Lisa Sumption to serve in the interim, then picked her chief of staff, Chris Warner, for the temporary role. Warner started July 1.

The transportation system is one of the most important things Oregonians own and that connects them with the state, said Sen. Anthony Broadman, D-Bend.

“You go about your daily life, you don’t confront or meet the state where they are unless you go to the DMV or you’re on a road,” Broadman said. “For us in the legislature, this is how we interface with the people who we work for.”

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in The Statesman Journal and then was distributed on the USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.

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The members of Gov. Tina Kotek‘s new transportation group have their work cut out for them.

The 12-member Rebuilding Our Transportation Vision Workgroup is tasked with creating a framework that can solve Oregon Department of Transportation budget woes and gain lawmakers’ approval during the 2027 legislative session.

Kotek has convened the group months in advance, no doubt to try and avoid the repeated transportation planning failures that have plagued the state for the past year. They have until the end of 2026 to present her with recommendations.

To take on future transportation planning, the group needs to understand what has and hasn’t worked in recent years, Kelly Brooks, Kotek’s transportation advisor, told members at their first meeting on May 1. The group, Brooks said in March, follows a model like one created by then-Gov. Kate Brown in 2016.

That led to the implementation of the legislature’s transportation funding bill, House Bill 2017. The Statesman Journal uncovered issues with the implementation of that bill in 2025.

The bill’s funds are strictly limited to where they can be directed, leading to a shortage of money for road maintenance and several ongoing large projects. Going into 2024, the agency found Oregon needed more than $2 billion per year to put the transportation system in good repair, Brooks said.

Lawmakers tried to pass another multibillion-dollar package in 2025 but failed to garner enough support from Democrats and any from Republicans.

Kotek then called legislators into a special session, ultimately culminating in a bill estimated to bring in $4.3 billion over 10 years.

Anti-tax opponents referred most of the changes to get that new revenue to the ballot, where voters are expected to vote them down on May 19.

To prevent layoffs and overcome the expected funding shortfall, lawmakers patched a short-term fix by moving funds within ODOT‘s budget meant for programs and projects.

The work group’s task is to come up with ideas that could go into a bill for the 2027 legislative session.

The group’s membership includes no current lawmakers, whose support will be needed for the proposals to advance. Its leaders are Bruce Hanna, a former Roseburg Republican who served as co-speaker of the House when it was evenly divided by party, and Grace Crunican, a former ODOT director who most recently ran the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. The group’s remaining members have backgrounds in business, transportation, the environment and government.

Kotek told the members they must do more than just point out issues.

Past funding proposals that have been successful, Kotek said, were bipartisan, broad and laid out specific priorities.

Oregon’s transportation system with its current funding levels “is unsustainable and frankly unacceptable for Oregonians,” and the group is charged with finding legitimate solutions, she said. Failing to create a successful framework for the legislative session would likely mean more canceled projects and programming cuts.

“If there’s one more winter that we head into and we’re talking about whether or not we can hire snowplow drivers, that will be a failure,” Brooks said.

Six subgroups will work on topic-specific recommendations for the work group’s members to discuss. The subgroups will focus on maintenance, preservation and emergency response, community livability and safety, major project funding and delivery, transit, freight mobility and funding tools and financial scenarios.

The members have not yet been finalized, but each will have a chair and a member of the vision group.

In addition to the main group and all the subgroups’ members, the state is working with two consultant groups who will work on things like meeting summaries and public engagement. Those contract amounts were not immediately available.

The work group is scheduled to hold six more meetings before producing a report of recommendations in December. The next meeting is set for June 1.

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in The Statesman Journal and then was distributed on the USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.

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A group of transportation experts will work on solutions to fund Oregon’s transportation system in 2027 and beyond, Gov. Tina Kotek announced last week.

The Rebuilding Our Transportation Vision Workgroup is tasked with reviewing current and projected transportation spending and needs as well as creating an outline for potential legislation ahead of the 2027 legislative session.

“Oregonians want and deserve a safe, accessible, and reliable transportation system,” Kotek stated. “Despite political division, we all need to come back to the table to identify our basic transportation needs in a way that will sufficiently and sustainably provide a system that meets the current and future goals of our state.”

Lawmakers plan to tackle transportation funding again in 2027.

Kotek called a special session in 2025 after Democrats failed to push through two transportation packages during the long legislative session. Opponents of the proposed higher costs quickly gathered enough signatures to refer much of the bill, which was expected to generate $4.3 billion in revenue through a gas tax, to the November ballot.

Democrats pushed through legislation during the 2026 short session to move that election to May, prompting several lawsuits. Lawmakers expect voters to reject the increased taxes and fees, with Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth, saying, “everybody knows that it’s going to fail.”

The work group will address solutions for transportation funding statewide.

The Oregon Department of Transportation has long been warning about its impending budget issues. Gas tax revenues are declining with an increase in use of electric and hybrid vehicles, inflation has hurt construction work, and many of the agency’s reserves are limited in where they can be spent because of prior legislation, ODOT has said.

The bipartisan group will be tasked with finding a way to mitigate those issues without prompting another referendum effort.

Legislators used vacancy savings and redirected other funds during the 2026 short session to unlock $288 million for ODOT and keep the department afloat as a sustainable solution is sought.

“We need to launch a long-term, bipartisan conversation about what comes next,” Kotek told reporters after the legislative session ended March 6. “And there’s more to come on that.”

Susan Peithman, director of ODOT’s climate office, will lead the group “from a staff perspective,” a Kotek spokesperson said.

Grace Crunician and Bruce Hanna will serve as co-chairs.

Crunician retired from her role as general manager of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District in 2019. She was ODOT’s director from 1996 to 2001.

Hanna retired from the Oregon Legislature in 2014 after serving five terms as a representative for Roseburg. Hanna, a Republican, served with former Rep. Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay, as co-Speaker of the House for a time when Oregon’s House of Representatives was evenly split.

“We are in a new place now given what’s happening on the ballot and elsewhere, where we have to take a new approach to solutions,” said Kelly Brooks, Kotek’s transportation policy advisor.

Brooks told the commission the work group will perform similar duties as that of a panel convened by then-Gov. Kate Brown in 2016. That group produced a report that aided in the creation of the 2017 transportation package.

The new work group’s first meeting will be in April and be open to the public. The group will draft a report by the end of the year.

The group’s members, other than Crunician and Hanna, were not announced last week.

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the Statesman Journal and then was distributed on the USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.

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U.S. Coast Guard approval of a fixed-span design for a new Interstate Bridge marked a key regulatory step forward last week, but soaring costs have clouded the project’s outlook.

Cost estimates for the Interstate Bridge replacement program have more than doubled, with a high-end estimate for a fixed span rising to $17.7 billion, according to recently unearthed Oregon Department of Transportation documents.

The documents were obtained by City Observatory, a Portland-based think tank, through a public records request. ODOT hadn’t publicly updated its cost estimates since 2022, when it gauged the bridge’s cost at $5 billion to $7.5 billion.

“I was shocked,” said Joe Cortright, a Portland economist who runs City Observatory.

Cortright added that he expected the project’s cost to rise to $9 billion to $10 billion, far below the actual estimates, which range from $12.2 billion to $17.7 billion. The rise in estimated costs far outpaces overall inflation and construction cost indexes, he noted.

ODOT pushed back, saying the cost figures do not represent a complete cost estimate, which involves an in-depth examination of the costs of labor and equipment materials as well as the schedule.

“The IBR program has been clear with its partners and the public that the cost of the IBR program is going to increase, but since the cost estimating process remains under way, we do not have a final number to share at this time,” IBR program administrator Carley Francis stated in an email on Wednesday.

An official cost estimate is expected in March, according to ODOT.

Infrastructure projects across the nation “are currently experiencing significant price increases,” Francis stated. “We do not expect the IBR program to be immune to the cost increases we are seeing around the country.”

It’s unclear where leaders in Oregon and Washington will get all the funding needed to construct the bridge. In all, the program has more than $5 billion in identified funding, Francis stated.

The states have pledged $1 billion each, in addition to $217 million in existing state funding. Federal grants and toll revenues are also expected to help foot the bill.

“Ultimately, it’ll continue to be a mix of contributions from different levels of government,” said Mike Salsgiver, executive director of Associated General Contractors’ Oregon-Columbia chapter.

Ongoing state and federal sources will need to be tapped for the project, he said.

“With a project of this length, it will be an annual revisiting of federal appropriations and each legislature,” he said.

Salsgiver and other transportation advocates will visit Oregon’s congressional delegation in Washington, D.C., in April to push for continued funding.

“The region will have to continue to make sure those funding streams are open and able to get this project complete,” Salsgiver said.

Cortright cast doubt on federal willingness to pay for the project.

“Right now, the congressional Republicans and the Trump administration — they’re not really favorably inclined toward transit projects generally, and particularly not those in blue states and cities,” he said.

Project backers were buoyed by the Coast Guard’s determination that a fixed span with 116 feet of vertical clearance will provide adequate room for boats to pass underneath. A movable span would have been even more expensive, according to estimates.

“They’re portraying it as a big step forward,” Cortright said. “They dodged a bullet.”

ODOT recently told transportation commissioners that the project is marching ahead.

The IBR program team “will continue working to ensure a successful transition from environmental and planning to delivery and construction,” ODOT interim Director Lisa Sumption wrote in a Jan. 15 letter to the Oregon Transportation Commission ahead of a meeting on Jan. 22. “This includes coordinating with partners to update the construction sequencing and funding strategy to advance the first set of investments towards delivering the full program.”

Tools to address costs could include value engineering, seeking additional federal, state and local funding, and construction phasing. That would mean “building portions of the investments that have adequate funding and working to secure funding for remaining investments in the future,” Sumption wrote.

Cortright has been critical of ODOT for what he describes as a pattern of beginning work on projects that have not been fully funded.

“They basically turn the sunk-cost fallacy into a management strategy,” Cortright said. “They want to create the sense that hey, we’ve started this and we need to finish it.”

2026 is likely to prove a decisive year for the project. Looming ahead is a Sept. 30 deadline to obligate a significant portion of grant funds from the Federal Highway Administration bridge investment program.

Project officials also expect to complete a final supplemental environmental impact statement this year. That will be followed by an amended record of decision that will include an updated cost estimate and financial plan.

IBR program officials are conducting a tolling study for those documents. The study will examine how much tolls will cost, and how much revenue they will raise.

Both project supporters and opponents point to tolling as a potential political vulnerability. Opposition to tolling has been intense, causing Gov. Tina Kotek and legislators to backtrack from a portion of the 2017 transportation funding bill that called for tolling on interstates 5 and 205.

Drivers are unlikely to look kindly on paying tolls for a new Interstate Bridge, either.

“Tolling is a broader challenge,” Salsgiver said.

ODOT’s toll scenarios range from $1.55 per crossing before the bridge is completed to $4.70 post completion, with some offsets for lower-income drivers.

The bridge has been tolled before. Salsgiver recalled as a child that he would throw a quarter into a toll box to cross the existing Interstate Bridge; its second span was completed in 1958.

Today’s drivers have become unaccustomed to paying tolls, Salsgiver said.

“It’s unfortunate,” he said. Removing tolls “taught a generation of Oregonians — and more — that we don’t do tolling here.”

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The Oregon Transportation Commission voted Thursday to move construction of the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project to its next phase despite limited funding. The Oregon Department of Transportation will use $167.7 million to pay for work set to begin in 2027.

Last year, ODOT received a $450 million grant from the Federal Highway Administration via its Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods (RCN) program. This money was intended to pay for the Broadway Weidler Phase 1 package, including construction of the southern portion of the highway cover, completion of the southbound I-5 auxiliary lane and shoulder from I-405 to the Moda Center, and other improvements.

ODOT was able to obligate $67.5 million of the RCN funding before the remainder ($382.5 million) was rescinded by the 2025 Budget Reconciliation Act. The obligated funding can be used for preliminary engineering as well as work related to right of way and utilities.

There is $479.9 million in total funding available for the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project, a staff report states. Travis Brouwer, ODOT deputy director of revenue, finance and compliance, said that funding is not sufficient to finish the project.

The available funding includes $380 million in House Bill 2017 Urban Mobility Strategy funding. Of that portion, currently $167.7 million can go toward phase 1 construction, Brouwer said.

The funding also includes $32.4 million in federal, state and local money for preliminary engineering and phase 1A construction.

“Phase 1A packages work in the corridor both in the north end near the I-5 interchange and at the south end at the I-84 interchange,” said Monica Blanchard, interim program director of the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project.

Phase 1A is under way and scheduled to finish in late 2026. Its focus is on bridge maintenance, stormwater-related work, and early safety improvements. Subcontractors have been selected, the right of entry permit has been finalized, erosion control has been installed on site, and stormwater work on the drainage pond has started, Blanchard said.

ODOT completed a value engineering study and cost reduction workshop after May’s Oregon Transportation Commission meeting. A cost reduction concept of micropiles for the highway cover foundation has been adopted. According to ODOT, micropiles offer flexibility in construction and are better suited to address subsurface obstructions if encountered. Micropiles use smaller drilling equipment than other traditional foundation types and can be better mobilized in restrictive areas. The results are a $45 million cost reduction and no impact on the construction schedule.

ODOT will continue to consider other ways project costs can be lowered, Blanchard said. In fact, eight other concepts are being evaluated. However, officials have ruled out removing the second auxiliary lane on I-84 to Weidler Street, reducing the width of the highway within the highway cover, and using buried concrete arches in lieu of girders.

Moving forward, ODOT presented three construction options to the commission. Option 1 would be construction of phase 1B with the available $167.7 million. Crews would complete some of the operational and safety improvements on I-5 between I-84 and the Broadway/Weidler off-ramp, including widening over the Rose Quarter Transit Center and removing the pinch point at the I-84 northbound on-ramp. Construction would begin in 2027, after completion of phase 1A, and allow for a continuous transition from phase 1A to phase 1B.

Option 2 would delay construction of the full Broadway Weidler Phase 1 package until the third quarter of 2028 if additional funding is secured. ODOT would use remaining preliminary engineering funds, including the RCN grant, to complete design for all of phase 1.

Under option 3, construction funding for the Broadway Weidler Phase 1 package would be reallocated or reprioritized legislatively. Design of Broadway Weidler Phase 1 would be completed with federal RCN grant funding. The team would focus on completing the phase 1A construction package. The rest of the budget would be allocated to other ODOT priorities. ODOT staff did not recommend this option because the project cost would grow each year.

However, a fourth option was proposed by Metro, the city of Portland and Albina Vision Trust. In a letter, the partners proposed something similar to option 1 but with ODOT working with them on phasing and scope of phase 1B and phase 1C.

Commissioners voted unanimously to advance option 4, which directs ODOT to work collaboratively with local and regional partners to analyze the proposed construction scope and develop a feasible plan. ODOT will return before the commission in March or April with a progress report.

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Oregon lawmakers passed a key transportation funding bill this week, averting layoffs at the Oregon Department of Transportation and securing money for road maintenance before winter weather begins.

“Oregonians believe … that having safe, accessible roads is a core function of government,” Gov. Tina Kotek said at a press conference on Monday. “Our highways have to be open. People need to be able to get where they need to go.”

The legislation halts the threatened layoffs of hundreds of ODOT employees that were due to occur if the bill hadn’t passed. ODOT also canceled the closures of 12 maintenance stations around the state.

Overall, the package is expected to boost revenue by $791 million in 2025-27, and $889.9 million in 2027-29, according to a Legislative Revenue Office analysis.

“This funding is a significant investment, and we do not treat it lightly,” ODOT spokesman Kevin Glenn stated in an email on Wednesday. “ODOT will increase efficiency and, with this funding, continue to deliver for Oregonians.”

Republicans criticized the bill, which passed the Senate by an 18-11 margin, as a major tax increase on Oregon drivers. The legislation hikes the costs of several taxes and fees.

“Democrats chose the easy path: tax more, spend more and ignore the consequences,” Rep. Virgle Osborne, R-Roseburg, stated.

Passenger vehicle registration fees will nearly double from $43 annually to $85. Title fees will jump from $77 to $216.

Payroll taxes will double to 0.02 percent, effective Jan. 1. That’s expected to raise $196.6 million during the next biennium.

The bill also:

• directs the Secretary of State to conduct biennial audits of ODOT’s capital projects and use of state highway funds, and
• gives the governor, rather than the state Transportation Commission, the power to appoint and fire the ODOT director.

The legislation does not fund any of the state’s major capital projects such as the $2.1 billion Interstate 5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project, which faces a massive funding shortfall in part due to federal cuts.

“This package doesn’t solve all of the issues we see going forward, so we’re hopeful for more conversation leading to a comprehensive solution later,” said Kirsten Adams, lobbyist for the Associated General Contractors’ Oregon-Columbia chapter.

Transportation funding was delayed when legislators could not agree on a package during this year’s regular session that ended June 27. Kotek called a special session to begin on Aug. 29, but legislative action was delayed due to the lack of a quorum.

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By CLAIRE RUSH
Associated Press

Oregon could become the second U.S. state to require electric vehicle owners to enroll in a pay-per-mile program as lawmakers began a special session Friday to fill a $300 million transportation budget hole that threatens basic services like snowplowing and road repairs.

However, the special session got off to a rocky start: The state Senate met as scheduled at 9 a.m., but the state House failed to reach the two-thirds quorum required to conduct business, leaving the session in limbo as of late Friday afternoon.

Legislators failed earlier this year to approve a transportation funding package. Hundreds of state workers’ jobs are at risk, and the proposal for a road usage charge for EV drivers was left on the table.

Hawaii in 2023 was the first state to create a mandatory road usage charge program to make up for projected decreases in fuel tax revenue due to the growing number of electric, hybrid and fuel-efficient cars. Many other states have studied the concept, and Oregon, Utah and Virginia have voluntary programs.

The concept has promise as a long-term funding solution, experts say. Others worry about privacy concerns and discouraging people from buying EVs, which can help reduce transportation emissions.

“This is a pretty major change,” said Liz Farmer, an analyst for The Pew Charitable Trusts’ state fiscal policy team, noting “the challenge in enacting something that’s dramatically different for most drivers.”

Oregon’s transportation woes

Oregon’s transportation department says the budget shortfall stems from inflation, projected declines in gas tax revenue and other spending limits. Over the summer, it sent layoff notices to nearly 500 workers and announced plans to close a dozen road maintenance stations.

Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek paused those moves and called the special session to find a solution. Republican lawmakers say the department mismanaging its money is a main issue.

Kotek’s proposal includes an EV road usage charge that is equivalent to 5 percent of the state’s gas tax. It also includes raising the gas tax by 6 cents to 46 cents per gallon, among other fee increases.

The usage charge would phase in starting in 2027 for certain EVs and expand to include hybrids in 2028. Should the gas tax increase be approved, EV drivers either would pay about 2.3 cents per mile, or choose an annual flat fee of $340. Drivers in the program wouldn’t have to pay supplemental registration fees.

Drivers would have several options for reporting mileage to private contractors, including a smartphone app or the vehicle’s telematics technology, said Scott Boardman, policy adviser for the transportation department who works on the state’s decade-old voluntary road usage charge program.

Republican lawmakers, who have opposed the tax and fee increases, unveiled a different proposal Friday that largely focuses on lifting funding restrictions to allow the transportation department to spend more money on maintenance operations, including by redirecting dollars earmarked for public transit and efforts to combat climate change toward such operations. It does not include a road usage charge.

As of May, there were over 84,000 EVs registered in Oregon, about 2 percent of the state’s total vehicles, he said.

Questions about privacy and fairness

In past surveys commissioned by Oregon’s transportation department, respondents cited privacy, GPS devices and data security as concerns about road usage charges.

Oregon’s voluntary program has sought to respond to such concerns by deleting mileage data 30 days after a payment is received, Boardman said. While plug-in GPS devices are an option in the program, transportation officials anticipate moving away from them because they’re more expensive and can be removed, he added.

Still, not everyone has embraced a road usage charge. Arizona voters will decide next year whether to ban state and local governments from implementing a tax or fee based on miles traveled after the measure was referred to the ballot by the Republican-majority Legislature.

Many people don’t realize that “both your vehicle and your cellphone capture immense amounts of data about your personal driving habits already,” said Brett Morgan, Oregon transportation policy director for the nonprofit Climate Solutions.

Morgan added that road usage charges exceeding what drivers of internal combustion engines would pay in gas taxes could dissuade people from buying electric and hybrid cars. Already, federal tax incentives for EVs are set to expire under the tax and spending cut bill recently passed by the GOP-controlled Congress.

“We are definitely supportive of a road usage charge that has EVs paying their fair share, but they should not be paying extra or a penalty,” Morgan said.

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The Oregon Legislature‘s upcoming special session focusing on transportation funding may deal a major setback for tolling in the state — except for the Interstate Bridge replacement project.

Gov. Tina Kotek on Wednesday called for repealing a 2017 law that provides the framework for tolling on interstates 5 and 205.

Key state lawmakers, including Sen. Mark Meek, D-Gladstone, have urged the repeal of the law as part of anticipated legislation to fund the Oregon Department of Transportation.

“There will be language in the bill to repeal ORS 383.150,” Kotek said in remarks to reporters, in reference to the 2017 tolling law.

Kotek acknowledged that the idea of tolling Oregon drivers had not shifted out of park.

“We are in a pause across the system on tolling, outside of the Interstate Bridge,” she said.

Kotek’s comments were part of a broader outline of plans for the special session set to begin Aug. 29. On Tuesday, the governor said she would invoke her authority to reconvene the Legislature for the session.

The effort comes after the Legislature failed to pass a transportation funding bill in the regular session that ended June 27.

Kotek said Wednesday that she wants to keep the special session tightly focused on funding ODOT’s regular operations. Funding for the state’s infrastructure mega-projects is not expected to come out of the special session, Kotek said

The governor urged action, saying it’s needed to avoid layoffs at ODOT. The agency has already notified 483 workers of impending layoffs without forthcoming funding. Additional layoffs would follow early in 2026.

“These dollars will cover the ODOT budget to provide basic services for Oregonians and prevent layoffs of workers that provide basic services to Oregonians,” Kotek said.

Kotek gave the broad framework of a transportation funding bill but did not say how much it would cost. Among the bill’s elements:

• The state’s gas tax would rise 6 cents, from 40 cents to 46 cents per gallon.

• A $30 electric vehicle fee would be implemented.

• Vehicle registration and title fees would also rise.

• The payroll tax to pay for transit would double from 0.1 percent to 0.2 percent. Kotek said the increase is necessary to keep rural transit systems alive.

• The governor would have greater ability to fire the ODOT director. A 2017 transportation bill gave the Oregon Transportation Commission more authority over ODOT’s executive.

Kotek said she wouldn’t dwell on the transportation bill’s failure during this year’s regular session. She added that Oregon should consider funding transportation more often, on an annual or biennial basis, rather than in bigger cycles.

While Clackamas County lawmakers and others are likely to welcome a major setback for tolling, an industry official questioned how Oregon will pay for its major infrastructure projects without those revenues.

“It’s concerning to move away from any tolling, especially when tolling was how those projects were going to pencil out,” said Kirsten Adams, a lobbyist for the Associated General Contractors‘ Oregon-Columbia chapter.

Meek said it’s “great news” that Kotek will push to repeal the 2017 law. He added that he’d be open to tolling in the future to pay for the state’s mega-projects.

“I think there is room for tolling for the metro area to help pay for our mega-projects. I just want there to be a more open conversation about it,” he said.

Meek said he envisioned a London-style tolling area, where drivers would be tolled coming into the Portland-metro area from Hood River in the east, U.S. Route 26 from the Oregon Coast in the west, Interstate 5 near Aurora in the south and the Glenn L. Jackson Memorial Bridge (Interstate 205) at the Washington state border in the north.

Adams praised Kotek’s bid to seek greater accountability from ODOT leaders, and added that Oregon needs a better way of paying for mega-projects.

“We’re looking for a long-term funding solution for those bigger projects, knowing that’s important for the infrastructure in our state, the mobility in our state, and knowing they’re really expensive,” she said.

Kotek told journalists she has the votes to pass a transportation package, and that she is not concerned that a potential walkout by Republicans would deprive the Legislature of a quorum. Meek agreed.

“She would not have called this if she did not have a quorum and the votes to pass,” he said.

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Oregon State Sen. Mark Meek said that he is open to Gov. Tina Kotek recalling the Legislature for a special session on transportation funding — if the governor agrees to repeal a tolling law.

“I’m open to that,” he said. “I told the governor, I committed that if the final package looks good, I’m happy to be there. But one of my requests is to repeal ORS 383.150.”

The tolling statute, on the books since 2017, directs the Oregon Transportation Commission to establish a toll program and assess potential tolls on interstates 5 and 205. Plans by the Oregon Department of Transportation to pay for roads and bridges with tolling has foundered amid political opposition and planning obstacles.

Meek’s comments, in a brief interview on Sunday, come amid speculation that Kotek will reconvene the Legislature in a special session to tackle transportation funding. The regular session ended June 27 in acrimony after a major transportation bill ran out of gas.

Kotek’s office did not specifically respond to Meek’s comments. “The governor is assessing next steps,” a spokesperson said Monday.

Meek said he’s been in discussions with Kotek and other state leaders since the session ended without a transportation funding package.

“I’ve had several communications with the governor and her staff, and we are working on a special session to try to keep our ODOT workers out in the field, maintain the roads for Oregonians and then also make sure that we can rebalance HCAS,” Meek said, referring to the state Highway Cost Allocation Study.

The biannual study, conducted most recently by ECONorthwest for the state Office of Economic Analysis, helps lawmakers determine how to spend transportation funds. It has played a role in the heated debate in Salem about who benefits from and who pays for transportation levies, including the gas tax, weight-mile tax and vehicle registration fees, and how that should be divided between the trucking industry and regular commuters.

Meek, D-Gladstone, has fought tolls in the Legislature. Meek’s Clackamas County constituents have been in an uproar over potential tolls on the Abernethy Bridge, the I-205 span connecting West Linn and Oregon City.

Meek said his constituents should not bear the brunt of Oregon’s tolling program. He said the tolling law is “so harmful and damaging to my community in Clackamas County.”

Meek called for “an honest discussion about what tolling looks like here in Oregon, or at least in my community.”

The bridge is undergoing a major project to strengthen it in case of an earthquake, and to widen the roadway to increase capacity. The project is expected to be complete next year.

The Legislature adjourned without passing House Bill 2025, a wide-ranging transportation funding bill. Meek was removed from the Joint Transportation Reinvestment Committee by Senate leaders after he said he would not support the bill.

Republicans and some Democrats were leery of the numerous revenue-raising provisions in the bill, including raising the 40-cent gas tax by 15 cents, indexing it to inflation, and hiking vehicle registration fees.

Supporters argued that the state must complete a series of major transportation projects, including the Interstate 5 Rose Quarter expansion, which would also create highway covers to repair the street grid in Portland’s Albina neighborhood, and fund regular road maintenance.

After lawmakers went home, ODOT laid off at least 483 workers and began canceling minor road projects around the state.

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The Oregon Legislature‘s failure to pass a transportation funding bill is beginning to impact projects around the state.

On Friday, the Oregon Department of Transportation sent a notice that it was canceling a chip seal project on Route 34 near Corvallis. Work was set to begin on Monday. Other chip seal projects were canceled in Union and Grant counties in eastern Oregon.

“ODOT is experiencing a significant and immediate funding shortfall that is resulting in staff layoffs and reduced capacity across the agency,” the department stated.

ODOT began implementing layoffs on Monday, with 483 employees let go. That number was expected to rise to 600 to 700 later in the day. A second wave of layoffs is planned for early 2026 without further funding from the Legislature, the governor’s office stated Monday.

“Consequences to essential transportation services are imminent across the state,” Gov. Tina Kotek stated on Monday. “This is not business as usual. These layoffs constitute an emergency in Oregon’s transportation system that will hurt every part of Oregon.”

Hundreds of vacant positions held open in the past four years will be permanently eliminated, the governor’s office warned.

The layoffs list totals 11 pages, and includes engineering specialists, transportation maintenance specialists and information systems specialists. Unionized staff who receive layoff notices may be able to move into other positions, both vacant and filled, following specific processes, an ODOT spokeswoman stated in an email. As such, the impacts to specific regions and programs may not be known for months.

Kotek cautioned that Oregonians would begin noticing reduced services, including fewer potholes getting filled, reduced pavement maintenance and road striping. Brush clearing and fire-prevention work will also be scaled back.

As winter approaches, drivers can expect slower and less frequent snow and ice removal, particularly in rural and mountainous areas, the governor’s office stated.

“This emergency was preventable, and we still have time to intervene,” Kotek stated. “I have not and will not stop fighting for Oregonians who rely on us to keep our roads safe and people and products moving. Come winter, without a shared commitment to solve this crisis from partners and lawmakers, Oregonians will be left out in the cold — literally.”

The funding shortfall leaves ODOT relying on diminished gas tax revenue, vehicle registration fees and other sources. A monthslong effort to pass a landmark transportation bill failed after opposition from Republicans and some Democrats in the Legislature.

Some observers have called on Kotek to reconvene legislators in a special session.

Beyond short-term maintenance needs, the agency’s funding troubles put the state’s big freeway projects — including the Interstate 5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project — at risk, said Joe Cortright, president of City Observatory and a longtime ODOT critic.

The transportation bill’s failure “puts them in a really dire situation,” he said. “The question is whether ODOT should be taking on a $2 billion project for which it has no money at the same time it’s laying off hundreds of employees. Doesn’t make much sense to me.”

Cortright also questioned how much of a $450 million federal grant, announced in March 2024, for highway cover design and initial construction of the I-5 project will be realized.

“It’s very much a question up in the air as to how much of that money continues to be available,” he said.

The Legislature in this session approved $250 million for the Interstate Bridge replacement program. That followed the 2023 Legislature’s approval of House Bill 5005, which identified Oregon’s eight-year plan to allocate $1 billion for its share of the project. An updated price tag is expected soon; the most recent estimate was $6 billion.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that the 2025 Oregon Legislature approved $250 million for the Interstate Bridge replacement program.

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