The tolling of i-5 interstate bridge delayed a year to 2027
The Interstate Bridge Replacement is delayed by more environmental review.
Both Oregon and Washington state governments act as though they have the I-5 interstate bridge replacement project (IBR), and its tolling, in the bag. But a huge part of the cost of this bridge replacement is the insistence by state and regional governments that the bridge have the light rail Max on it.
Representative John Ley of the Washington House of Representatives (photo to the right) has long railed against the light rail component of the IBR. He is only elected this last year as a Washington Representative, representing parts of Clark County Washington. It is kind of surprising that this rebel, John Ley, is able to get elected. Unfortunately, he is in the minority party in Olympia (Republican) and is unable to stop the light rail and tolling included in the IBR. But he is pretty dogged, my having had some acquaintance with his political activities.
But the new federal highway administration is headed by President Trump, which administration may not hold much regard for the deep blue states of Oregon and Washington. The IBR is yet to get Coast Guard approval. (Putting light rail on the IBR causes it to quite possibly be too low to allow unfettered access of the Columbia River upstream, east of the IBR.)
Just maybe the new federal administration might shoot down the current design that includes light rail and effectively discontinue funding the IBR unless light rail is dropped. One can only hope that the IBR boondoggle gets killed.
(posted by Elvis Clark on May 8, 2025)
Transportation Department issues update of tolling rules
But they are effectively the same as the original, failed ODOT tolling rules
You might have heard, during this last couple of weeks, that the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has issued updated "Limited" tolling rules. But reading these updated rules, I find that ODOT still contemplates allowing the tolling of existing roads and highways without the tolling being for road improvements, or what is formerly called "Urban Mobility Pricing" or before it "Congestion Pricing." ODOT still is pushing to toll both I-5 and I-205 from Wilsonville to the Columbia River. It is obvious Oregonians oppose Congestion Pricing as planned by ODOT.
Moreover, ODOT is still caught up designing tolls around so-called equity and climate change, code words for social engineering people off the roads and into slow moving public transit or range limited bicycles.
Here's the link to ODOT's newly issued tolling rules: AthrBlnk.dot (oregon.gov)
Here's the link for submitting comments to ODOT about its tolling rules: Oregon Department of Transportation : Public Comment on Limited Toll Rules Update : Get Involved : State of Oregon
Here's KGW's reporting on ODOT's new updated tolling rules: ODOT proposes new rules for future tolling projects | kgw.com
(posted by Elvis Clark on September 7, 2024)
The Petition to let voters reject road tolls is refiled-6/24
The new petition is IP-31 and replaces exactly the old petition IP-4, in its legal text
IP-4 was designed to let voters reject road tolls on Oregon's public highways and had passed Oregon Supreme Court review. Unfortunately, IP-4 failed to collect enough signatures to qualify for this November 2024 general election. It came up about 100,000 signatures short of the 200,000 signatures required for a state-wide constitutional initiative petition to qualify for a public vote.
But not all hope is lost. The "Vote-Before-Toll" Chief Petitioners and organization has now refiled the same exact petition for the 2026 General Election. This new petition replaces the old petition exactly so as to make Oregon Supreme Court review seemingly a breeze, since the Oregon Supreme Court already reviewed and approved for circulation the same petition legal text for its constitutionality.
The new "Vote-Before-Tolls" petition is called IP-31. It is now sitting at the Oregon Secretary of State's Office for review and approval to circulate for petition signature gathering. Chief Petitioners expect the Secretary of State's Office to approve for signature gathering by the end of this August 2024.
Chief Petitioners of IP-31 (same people as the old IP-4 Petitioners) plan to use paid signature gatherers this time around, instead of relying solely on grass roots volunteer signature gathering as was the case with IP-4. Paid signature gathering is expensive but necessary for most conservative initiative petitions to get enough signatures to qualify for a public vote.
Chief Petitioners have raised some donations to pay for signature gathering (some $80,000 I recall). So, hope springs eternal.
Stay tune for when the new IP-31 signature sheets become available for gathering signatures.
(posted by Elvis Clark on June 27, 2024)
The Vote-Before-Tolls Petition being pushed out to 2026
Dean Suhr, Chief Petitioner, suspends IP-4 ("Vote-Before-Tolls" initiative) signature gathering
I talked to Dean Suhr about a month ago, and it sounds like IP-4 has a little less than 100,000 signatures against a target of about 200,000 needed to qualify for this November 2024 General Election ballot. These extra 100,000 signatures would have to be collected by the end of this June 2024. Not doable, especially collecting signatures via IP-4's grassroots-only effort.
Here are some quotes from the Milwaukie Review's interview of Dean Suhr:
“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.
“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.”
“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.
(posted by Elvis Clark on April 18, 2024)
ODOT studies project-specific tolls for westside projects
One project proposed by ODOT is a new tunnel through the West Hills connecting Kaiser road to HWY 3
The Urban Mobility division of the Oregon of Department of Transportation (ODOT) has three west side Portland Metro area road expansion projects it is now considering. The three are the following:
(1) The Northern Connector which would construct a new tunnel under Forest Park (hillside). This would connect Kaiser Road to Highway 30. This new tunnel would be funded by a toll for entry through the tunnel.
(2) A new Bridge across the Willamette River connecting High 30 to North Portland and its marine terminals. This new bridge, also, would be tolled at its entry points, helping to finance this new road connection. This proposed project is called the North Willamette Bridge project.
(3) Expand Barnes Road to 5 lanes from Highway 217 to West Sylvan area and also expand Multnomah portion heading towards the City of Portland. I am not sure this one lends itself to tolling so much.
Here's the link to ODOT Regional Mobility's presentation regarding these three proposed road projects and more: PowerPoint Presentation (oregon.gov)
These projects are mostly to improve mobility for freight shipments from the Intel and other industrial manufacturing campuses in Washington County. Intel is expanding its Hillsboro chip making campus with the help of federal government subsidies. And the Oregon legislature approved in 2023 the opening of new lands outside the existing urban growth boundary for Intel to expand its business.
So, tolling does have a place in my book but only if it is tied to projects like bridges and tunnels and maybe new lanes.
Clackamas County would like to increase road capacity from Highway I-205 to Highway 26, possibly following a route parallel to Highway 212. There is already industry along Highway 212, and increasing road capacity someway that is parallel would help open up vast open lands for new housing in east Clackamas County,
(posted by Elvis Clark on March 29, 2024)
Oregon Governor kotek orders a stop to tolling plans
Governor Kotek surprises by directing her appointees to close down tolling plans
A lot of the public voiced its strong opposition to the Oregon Department of Transportation plans to charge tolls for driving on I-5 and I-205. Kotek actually was a key figure in enacting the tolling of I-205 and I-205 back in the year 2017 when she is Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives. But the pushback from the public - voiced at several public meetings -seems to have changed her opinion and caused her to order tolling now stopped.
Many Democrat elected officials did not want to have tolling high on the mind of voters while they are running for re-election. Maybe also Kotek is wanting to help Janelle Bynum (D) in her race for U.S Congressional District seat 5, against Lori Chevez-Deremer (incumbent, Republican). Chevez-Deremer has been working to get the Federal Highway Administration to block Oregon government's I-5 and I-205 tolling plans. By stopping the planned tolling of I-5 and I-205, Kotek takes one of Chevez-Deremer's key issues away from her.
Here's Kotek's letter ordering the stopping of tolling plans:
Gov. Tina Kotek orders stop to Portland-area tolling project - DocumentCloud
Some state officials are not happy with the Governor shutting down tolling.
Susan, McLain, co-chair of the Oregon House Transportation Committee sounds frustrated with Governor Kotek's move to stop tolling.
McLain likes tolling, as she even admits she wants to price people out of their cars, and onto public transit. Here are some state's official reactions to Kotek's order:
Leaders defy Kotek plan to stop tolls | The Oregon Catalyst
For the regular joe and jane who drive I-5 and 205, it is a good thing that the Governor acted because the Initiative Petition to require voter approval before tolls can be enacted (IP-4) needs a lot more signatures to qualify for the November 2024 ballot. It isn't looking good to get initiative IP-4 (stopping road tolls) before voters this coming November 2024. At times, IP-4 has looked like the only way to stop the tolling of I-5 and 205 and other highways.
There is some reason to believe that maybe Oregon needs another way of raising transportation monies in order to build new road capacity - to meet all of the population growth that Oregon has experienced over the last four decades (since the last major highway (I-205) built in the northern Willamette Valley is way back in the early 1980s, now).
Gasoline taxes are kind of flattening out because of newer cars having much higher mileage (50 mpg) than in the past (25 mpg). And trucker mileage fees are now facing a court challenge by state trucking associations - who contend that truckers have been overpaying for the use of the state highways.
I suspect the Oregon Department of Transportation has a fair degree of unnecessary overhead cost, but it is probably not enough to change the overall picture about the need for more transportation budget dollars.
Maybe newer cars should pay a road use fee in addition to gasoline taxes, with the road fee being based on an annual odometer reading. There was an Oregon House of Representatives bill to do just that in the 2023 legislative session, but it couldn't get past Representative McLain who wants tolling instead.
(posted by Elvis Clark on March 14, 2023)
Commissioner Savas says Clackamas gets the worst of tolling
The plan to toll I-5 & 205, Wilsonville to Columbia R., offers no benefit to Clackamas toll payers
The above quote in red text is that of Clackamas County Commissioner Paul Savas - as it sums up the Oregon Department of Transportation's (ODOT's) Plan as being the absolute worst case for Clackamas County residents. It sounds like Clackamas County drivers/residents will be paying tolls to basically fund TriMet's costly, failing public transit system (which doesn't adequately cover Clackamas, in the least and probably never will - based on the County's long historical experience with TriMet).
Meanwhile, Clackamas' congresswoman Chevez-Deremer is trying to stop ODOT's tolling scheme at the Federal Highway Administration, which is managed by Transportation secretary Buttigieg. Here's the Youtube video link of Congresswoman Chevez-Deremer questioning Secretary Buttigieg about ODOT's tolling scheme:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHLLY_09l3M
The Federal Highway Administration must approve ODOT's tolling scheme in order for it to be implemented - both I-5 and I-205 being federal highways that are administered by the state within Oregon but also in conjunction with federal government approval.
(posted by Elvis Clark on September 21, 2023)
ODOT drops adding lane on i-205 & tolling Tualitin bridge -?
As reported by the Oregonian above, the Oregon Department of Transport (ODOT) drops I-205 expansion
But the question remains is ODOT planning to still impose a congestion road toll? This would be very egregious for Clackamas County, as the funds raised from a congestion road toll/fee would not go towards improving I-205 but most probably expanding I-5 road capacity in and around the Rose Quarter in the City of Portland, Multnomah County proper.
Abernathy Bridge (on I-205 between Oregon City and West Linn) is still going to be tolled to finance making the Bridge earthquake "proof."
(posted by Elvis Clark on September 16, 2023)
Oregon House Bill 3297 could make road tolls unnecessary
Oregon Governor Kotek has paused Tolling but House Bill 3297 is also stalled
Freshman Oregon Representative Hartman searches for alternative transportation funding mechanisms so as to eliminate/minimize the need for road tolls - such as those tolls currently proposed by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) for both I-5 and I-205.
Here's a report on Representative Hartman regarding her wanting an alternative transportation project funding mechanism to ODOT's proposed road toll program:
"Hartman, a Democrat who represents Gladstone and Oregon City, says that she looks forward to a partnership with ODOT to find alternative sources for funding transportation projects rather than being “steamrolled” into a misguided tolling scheme. Both Hartman and Finn will be examining taxing vehicle miles traveled as a new funding source that might not be needed, as gas-tax revenues are increasing. ODOT had previously thought gas-tax revenues would decrease post-COVID."
House Bill 3297 (HB 3297) introduced earlier in the 2023 Oregon legislative session is not currently proceeding to approval. But HB 3297 is an alternative way of collecting monies for transportation projects. It would charge Oregon drivers periodically based on how many road miles traveled in Oregon. It could be an annual fee or one strictly tied to the car's odometer miles reading.
Such a way of raising road new transportation monies (besides existing gas tax proceeds) would cure the problem of diversion onto neighborhood streets caused in the case of ODOT's Tolling Scheme - where tolls on certain roads (for example, I-5 and I-205) would lead many drivers to take other streets to avoid being charged a toll. Some say out-of-state drivers would avoid paying for their use of Oregon roads with the fee based on road miles traveled in Oregon.
In this case, maybe tolls for out-of-state drivers could be placed on the interstate bridges like the I-5 Interstate bridge and the I-205 Glen Jackson road, so as to also raise road funds from out-of-state drivers' using Oregon roads.
(posted by Elvis Clark on June 8, 2023)
Charonneau is heavily dependent on I-5 at Wilsonville
Charbonneau is just south of Wilsonville accessible only by driving a toll targeted I-5 section
The only close-by grocery and shopping outlets for the Community of Charbonneau are next door in the City of Wilsonville. To get to Wilsonville from Charbonneau requires driving the I-5 Boone Bridge into Wilsonville. And yet this entrance into Wilsonville is targeted for tolling by the Oregon Department of Transportation.
So, tolls would make the community of Charbonneau effectively captive to ODOT's tolling schemes for I-5 , in and around the Portland Metro area region.
(posted by Elvis Clark on September 12, 2022)
Tolling News: Tolls for I-5 Bridge Replace will fund Max
Both Oregon and Washington State governments propose tolling new I-5 Columbia R. Bridge
Here's the link to KOIN news reporting on I-5 Columbia River Bridge Replacement tolling plans:
If I-5 Bridge replacement has its own toll then most likely another layer of tolls will be added to I-205 existing toll rates planned by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). So ODOT's current estimated toll rates on I-205 of $2 or so are probably going to end up actually substantially higher than $2 per road trip on I-205. The higher toll rates would be designed to discourage truckers and auto drivers from switching to I-205 from I-5 (given the I-5 bridge replacement toll). Also, consider that ODOT and Portland Metro government are demanding that another Max light rail line be part of the Columbia River Bridge replacement. So, indirectly I-205 road users will end up helping to pay (through tolls) for a Max line - even though the Max light rail system is a colossal failure by most real measures.
There is a possible way to disrupt ODOT's tolling schemes, and that is collecting enough signatures to qualify Initiative Petition #4 (IP-4). IP-4 allows Oregon voters to vote and stop tolling of roads such as I-5 and I-205.
I hear that Initiative Petition 4 is available for signing both today (Friday 3/31/23) and tomorrow (Saturday 4/1/23) out at the Portland International Raceway (PIR). There is suppose to be a covered booth out at PIR today and tomorrow between 7 am and 5 pm each day, with an Auto Swap meet happening out there as the overall event. Here's the Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/PIRAUTOSWAPMEET/
Weather doesn't look too promising, however, today or tomorrow.
I am planning to signature gather for IP-4 around the Happy Valley Farmers Market, beginning this May. Hopefully, the weather starts to dry and warm by this May first. Happy Valley Farmers Market is on Saturdays. I will also try IP-4 signature gathering at Milwaukie's Farmers Market starting in May - Sundays.
Economics Doctorate Fruits opposes ODOT's Road Toll Plans
Economics Doctor Fruits (photo to right) writes of third way to stop ODOT's road toll plans
According to Dr. Fruits Oregon residents can write to the Federal Highway Way Administration and comment against the road toll plans of Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). Seems ODOT needs approval by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to be able to charge tolls on I-205 and I-5. It's a long shot but maybe its worth a try - commenting, that is, in opposition to tolling I-205 and I-5 freeways.
Here's the website Dr. Fruits list as receiving Oregon resident public comments about ODOT's road toll schemes:
In the section just below here, I post Dr. Fruits' opinion piece in opposition to ODOT's road tolling plans for I-205 and I-5. This PDF file read is named: "TollgFruits23Mar"
(posted by Elvis Clark on March 17, 2023)
ODOT releases Impact assessment for I-205 tolling scheme
The total annual cost for I-205 drivers over Abernathy and Tualatin Bridges is calculated as $575
A single way toll would be $2 or so during peak rush hours, $1 in the shoulder hours and 50 cents even when the high way is relatively "empty."
But the real problem is that these are initial/study toll rates, and given the anti-car sentiment of many of our regional government leaders (who sit on the region's transportation committee(s)) eventually these tolls on public highways could be weaponized to price people out of their cars altogether.
Economics professor, Dr. Eric Fruits, working for Cascade Policy Institute, says the cost of tolls will weigh so much on the Portland economy that there will be no net economic benefit from the tolling of I-205. Here's the link to Dr. Fruits' review of the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT's) tolling plan for I-205:
https://oregoncatalyst.com/66273-odot-households-pay-575-year-tolls.html
There would be two tolling points (points H in the above ODOT diagram) on I-205 - per ODOT's tolling plan. These would be the Abernathy and Tualatin Bridges.
(posted by Elvis Clark on February 23, 2023.)
This ODOT chart shows the toll for going one way on I-205
Driving I-205 during rush hours two times a day will cost you over $40 per work week(just in tolls)
The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is steaming ahead with imposing tolls on both I-205 and I-5 (tolling from Wilsonville to the Columbia River, and vice versa). ODOT Plans to start tolling in the year 2024/2025.
ODOT admits the tolls it plans are higher than those tolls necessary to just recover the construction costs of new auxiliary lanes on both I-205 and I-5 and other improvements to both of them. ODOT plans to set tolls so high as to price like some 15% of drivers totally off I-5 and I-205.
If the tolls were set just to recover road construction costs (the green bars above), they would be half the rate as those planned to get people to drive less or not at all (the blue bars).
Working people are treated like serfs by the Government Class - the latter class forcing tolls down on working people mostly.
(posted by Elvis Clark on September 2, 2022)