COLUMN | Keep Oregon Moving: Oregon’s transportation system moved forward in 2024

Published 2:20 pm Wednesday, January 22, 2025

This year, the Oregon Legislature will tackle the structural revenue issue facing transportation agencies. With transportation set to be a major topic of discussion for Oregonians, let’s revisit some of the significant transportation events of 2024 and what they could mean going forward.

The structural revenue issue facing state and local transportation agencies has greatly limited ODOT’s ability to maintain the transportation system.

Here’s the short version: Gas tax revenues are set to decline due to increasing vehicle efficiency. High inflation over the past few years has eroded the value of transportation funding, and legal restrictions on that funding limit how ODOT can spend its money.

However, 2024 was an incredible year for some of the agency’s most important projects and initiatives because of major support from state and federal partners.

The federal government recognizes the critical importance of ODOT’s Interstate Bridge Replacement Program and has awarded it $2.1 billion in funding, including the largest grant in the federal Bridge Improvement Program history, at $1.5 billion.

The feds also recognized the incredible work ODOT has done with the community to design the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project and awarded it $450 million. This is the largest grant of its kind in the nation. Because of that funding and action by the Oregon Transportation Commission, ODOT expects to begin construction on the project this summer.

ODOT has also received more than $74 million in federal grants for electric vehicle charging and other initiatives to reduce emissions from Oregon’s transportation sector. With these federal grants plus federal funding from the Oregon Transportation Commission, ODOT is on track to build a robust public charging network.

These grants show the federal government sees Oregon and ODOT as worthy of investment.

In 2024, the agency also received accolades from advocacy organizations. The League of American Bicyclists identified Oregon as the third most bicycle-friendly state in the nation, specifically acknowledging ODOT’s Innovative Mobility Program, the Vulnerable User Crash Response Program, and the agency’s unprecedented investments in making Oregon’s transportation system safer for people walking, rolling, and biking. Oregon even claimed the top spot in the nation for participation in the annual International Walk & Roll to School Day, with more than 200 public K-8 schools throughout the state joining.

While there remains work to do, ODOT has successfully delivered nearly all major efforts directed in the last transportation funding package, HB 2017, with the remainder well underway. ODOT has increased public transportation options, created safer routes to schools, invested in multimodal projects that keep our economy moving and communities connected, and completed many projects that make our transportation system safer and more reliable.

Beyond the agency’s projects, the DMV implemented several new customer-facing improvements, including adding six new languages to our online knowledge testing service and installing self-serve kiosks throughout the state so that customers could renew their vehicle registration in English and Spanish without visiting an office or DMV2U.

ODOT’s maintenance crews are prudently investing the $39 million in emergency funding the legislature and Gov. Kotek provided in early 2024. This funding enabled ODOT to maintain stable winter maintenance service levels and increase graffiti and litter cleanup services.

In 2024, ODOT collected more than 196,000 pounds of trash and cleaned up 17,500 graffiti tags in the Portland metro region alone. These efforts have helped deter illegal activity and provided Portland travelers with a dramatically cleaner transportation system.

That funding also allowed ODOT maintenance crews to keep the traveling public safe through extraordinary winter storms and summer fires.

I want to thank those crews for their excellent work and Gov. Kotek and legislative leaders for making that work possible.

As I mentioned above, ODOT is facing a budget crisis that makes it difficult to continue its good work. Unless the legislature acts, ODOT will be forced to make painful service cuts to stay within its budget.

There was good news on that front this year, too.

Gov. Kotek’s proposed budget would improve service through additional investments in maintenance, the DMV, and other critical work, and allow the agency to invest in preserving and improving the transportation system. The governor’s budget now goes to the Oregon Legislature for consideration.

This year’s legislative session will be challenging, but I’m optimistic that decision makers will successfully tackle the structural revenue issue facing transportation agencies.

I’m proud to be part of one of the nation’s best state departments of transportation. Nearly 5,000 dedicated ODOT employees working in over 100 communities across Oregon are the reason this agency has accomplished so much.

With a lot of dedication, hard work, and a little bit of luck, I believe Oregon’s transportation system has a bright future.