Work begins on transportation package

Seven years ago, lawmakers poured more than $5 billion into improving roads, bridges and public transit in Oregon, touting plans to add lanes to congested urban highways, redesign intersections that served as hot spots for crashes and make safer walking routes to school for students across the state.

Now, lawmakers are in the earliest stages of crafting the next likely multi-billion transportation package — but this time around, the focus is more on maintaining existing roads than expanding or building new ones. During a recent meeting that served as a primer for a series of meetings around the state, lawmakers on the Joint Transportation Committee heard that Oregon’s roads and the systems in place to pay to maintain them are struggling.

Kris Strickler, director of the Oregon Department of Transportation, told lawmakers that the department needs about $2.8 billion annually just to meet current needs — nearly $1.8 billion beyond its current resources.

“We’re at a point where asking for projects just feels like, pardon the pun, a bridge too far,” Strickler said.

The agency is in a “deep, deep struggle” that’s only getting worse, he said. That’s because the state transportation system relies on what Strickler calls a three-legged stool for funding — and that stool’s legs are giving out. The first leg, revenue from the state’s 40-cents-per-gallon gas tax, is faltering as more Oregonians drive fuel-efficient cars or electric vehicles. The average driver now uses almost a quarter less fuel than they did a decade ago, paying about $40 less per year in gas taxes.

The second, fees paid to the Driver and Motor Vehicle Services division, isn’t steady because some DMV fees aren’t enough to cover the cost to administer services, let alone bring in additional revenue. That puts more weight on the third stool leg, weight-mile taxes charged to commercial truckers, who are now suing the state alleging they’re being overcharged.

Strickler recommended lawmakers consider adding more legs, including tolls, fees on electric vehicles and road usage charges. Most importantly, he said every fee should be indexed to inflation.