Oregon governor wants tolling plan on 2 Portland-area freeways scrapped
PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek wants to scrap a plan to impose tolls on large portions of two Portland-area highways, she said Monday.
Kotek sent a letter to the Oregon Transportation Commission on Monday saying the Regional Mobility Pricing Project for Interstate 5 and Interstate 205 should be halted, KGW-TV reported.
Kotek said in the letter that “the state’s path to implementing tolling in the Portland metro area is uncertain at best,” and that the challenges associated with the plan “have outweighed the expected benefits.”
“Therefore, I believe it is time to end the agency’s work on RMPP,” she wrote.
In 2017, the state Legislature directed the Oregon Department of Transportation to begin exploring tolling as a traffic congestion management tool that could be part of a major transportation funding package, but the plans have drawn increasing criticism as they become clearer.
Kotek’s letter came a few weeks after a survey found that a majority of Oregon voters opposed the Regional Mobility Pricing Project tolls, KOIN-TV reported.
The move also came after the Oregon Department of Transportation issued a report on the equity impact of tolls and the agency’s plan to mitigate the impact on low-income Portlanders. Kotek wrote in her letter that the report shows that “a toll program that keeps toll rates low enough for working families and raises sufficient funding for major projects would not meet local project financing and revenue sharing expectations.”
The state transportation agency is facing funding challenges due to an expected decline in state gas tax revenue, and Kotek said she expects the Legislature to address the issue in the 2025 session.
The governor said in the letter that she is “confident that a more robust conversation about funding options will provide greater understanding and direction for our future moving forward.”
Oregon Transportation Commission Chairman Julie Brown and Vice Chairman Lee Beyer, as well as Oregon Department of Transportation Director Kris Strickler, all released statements later Monday suggesting they agree with Kotek.
Beyer said “metro leaders’ views on tolling have changed” and “local and regional opposition to tolling makes it clear that Oregon is not ready for regional tolling.” Strickler said “it is clear that the toll program cannot be designed in a way that meets needs. expressed by our local partners, while meeting the needs of Oregonians statewide.”
Brown said she looked forward to conversations about other funding sources, but added that while she did not believe tolling should be the sole tool to solve challenges, “as the steward of our state’s transportation system, I believe this is a of our instruments should be. ”
Kotek said the move should not affect planned toll revenue collection on the Oregon-Washington highway bridge, which is about to be replaced as part of a multibillion-dollar project supported by federal funding.