Community leaders behind the movement to put tolling on the ballot later this year are pushing their efforts back. The Vote Before Tolls Committee is pausing its campaign to put IP-4, also known as the Vote Before Tolls initiative, on the ballot this November and shifting its focus to the November 2026 election.
The initiative would amend the Oregon Constitution to require a majority of residents of counties within 15 miles of any road to be tolled within the state to approve of the toll in a certified election.
“In short, we are pulling the plug on IP-4 and refiling for 2026,” West Linn resident and Vote Before Tolls Committee founder Dean Suhr said.
Suhr said the committee declared a “partial victory” last month when Gov. Tina Kotek halted work on the Regional Mobility Pricing Project , a plan that would have brought tolls to I-5 and I-205 between the Columbia River and Wilsonville.
The state still has plans to toll the Abernethy Bridge, which is currently undergoing seismic improvements, as early as 2026. The Interstate Bridge is also expected to be tolled at some point in the future.
Kotek essentially asked the Legislature to find a solution to the state’s transportation funding woes in next year’s legislative session. Whether that solution includes tolling is up to the legislative bodies.
Suhr and the Vote Before Tolls Committee, however, would prefer that Oregon residents decide the matter. That’s why they began the initiative in 2021.
“We know that tolling is still coming. We have a strong suspicion that tolling will be a part of the 2025 transportation package from the Legislature,” Suhr said.
He added that the governor’s directive did not “fix” the Oregon Department of Transportation.
“One of the things I didn’t expect to discover when I started this journey in 2021 is what a mess ODOT is financially and operationally, and I don’t want to get caught up in that but we need to focus on getting ODOT in better shape,” Suhr said.
As a recent example, Suhr cited ODOT’s announcement last year that it would have to scale back winter weather response on state roadways because of a lack of funding. Shortly after ODOT’s announcement, Kotek and Legislative leaders granted $19 million to the agency to restore winter road maintenance practices.
As for the initiative, Suhr said, “Right now we don’t have enough signatures or enough momentum to guarantee that we will meet the July deadline of 160,000-plus signatures that we need.”
Signature gathering is now on pause, but he thanked the “tens of thousands” of those that had already signed IP-4 and those that helped collect signatures.
He added that none of those signatures will go to waste, and they will serve as a jumping off point when the committee starts collecting signatures for the 2026 ballot.
While the signatures for the 2024 initiative can’t be used for the 2026 version, Suhr said the committee can use the contact info for all of the signature gatherers.
Suhr also felt he underestimated how long it would take to organize signature gatherers and establish financial backing.
“I also learned that most initiative petitions end up paying signature gatherers to get a dramatic portion of their signatures and we resisted that throughout the last couple of years,” Suhr said. “That was a mistake. Going forward in 2026 we will pay some signature gatherers, but we’ll get the bulk of them through volunteers.”
Ultimately, Suhr said he does not want to overwork the committee by racing towards the July deadline for this year’s ballot. After signature gathering for this ballot initiative window closes in July, work for the 2026 ballot can begin.
Suhr expressed confidence in the 2026 effort, noting the committee already has over 2,000 people on its mailing list and hundreds of signature circulators as well as financial supporters for the 2026 effort.
The 2026 initiative petition will include the same text as IP-4, so it will cover all tolling previously discussed by the state, Suhr explained.
He also noted that the initiative already passed a review by the Oregon Supreme Court and should pass the second time around.
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