Local agencies face rising transportation needs as lawmakers prep for special session 

In Lane County, a road languishes in need of safety improvements nearly two decades after a bicyclist’s death raised public awareness about Territorial Highway. 

In Springfield, Mill Street is undergoing a costly multimillion dollar reconstruction because officials lacked the money to properly maintain it.

In Eugene, officials dip into reserves to pay for routine roadwork. 

For local agencies in Lane County and the Oregon Department of Transportation, it’s a well-worn path. It also reflects an ongoing struggle in the state to manage and fund transportation projects.

Friday, Oregon lawmakers will convene in a special session called by Gov. Tina Kotek to pass a transportation package intended to shore up funding for maintenance and operations. It includes a 6-cent gas tax, which would raise the state gas tax from 40 cents to 46 cents a gallon. 

There’s also a combination of increases to vehicle registration and title fees and a proposed doubling in the payroll tax that goes toward transit services like the Lane Transit District. In all, the Legislature estimates Kotek’s proposal would generate about $791 million for the 2025-2027 two-year budget cycle, which started July 1.

Of that, $590 million would go to the state highway fund, with half of that going to the Oregon Department of Transportation, 30% to counties and 20% to cities. Transit districts would get $197 million. 

Amid that backdrop, state and local agencies remain stretched.

The Oregon Department of Transportation has started to reduce work on a variety of fronts that will lead to visible changes to state highways.

This includes delayed emergency response times, such as for crews that provide cones and clean up debris after accidents, vegetation management, including clearing hazardous trees, mowing weeds and fire prevention work. 

Roadside cleanup will also be less frequent, said Mindy McCartt, a spokesperson for the state agency. The agency is also cutting back on pavement maintenance and de-icing in colder months, increasing the risk of icy roads and dangerous driving conditions in winter. 

“Drivers should expect longer and more frequent closures during storms, and some roads may remain closed until crews can respond,” McCartt said in an email.

Across local jurisdictions, which heavily rely on fuel tax revenues, needs remain high. 

Here’s a look at how local agencies are faring as they wait for the outcome of the special session:

County roads 

In Lane County, more than 1,400 miles of roads are under the county’s jurisdiction for maintenance and preservation. 

Lane County gets about $30 million a year from the state highway fund. The county also pursues grants and other opportunities to fund roads, but needs remain — sometimes for years on end. 

The $30 million doesn’t go just toward pavement work. That money also pays for snow removal and other work along roads and bridges.

As a result, county officials struggle to follow through on identified needs – even on roads that are notoriously dangerous. In 2006, cyclist Jane Higdon, 47, died when a logging truck struck her on Territorial Highway south of Eugene. At the time, the highway was under the Oregon Department of Transportation jurisdiction.

When lawmakers passed a transportation bill in 2017, jurisdiction of the highway transferred to Lane County in phases starting in 2019. At the time, policymakers believed that made sense for its maintenance and improvements. Six years later, the county is struggling to fund improvements to enhance safety for the road, which runs from the Benton County line to the Douglas County line.  

“The impetus was a community vision of: How do we make this road safer for all users?” said Sasha Vartanian, the county’s division manager of construction and maintenance services for Lane County Public Works. “We are struggling to deliver on that vision because of how much construction costs have increased since we took that road on.”

That project for Territorial Highway alone is estimated to cost about $80 million. And that’s just one example: The county has a rising backlog of work, and dollars don’t go as far as they used to. 

Timber revenues used to keep Lane County’s budget flush, including for roadwork. That’s no longer the case, and options are limited for the county. 

“With rising costs all around, we’re just not able to build what we used to,” Vartanian said. “As fuel efficiency increases, the highway gas tax becomes less and less of a stable source of revenue.”

Lane County’s situation is not unusual in Oregon. 

Oregon’s 36 counties have an annual $271.2 million funding gap for capital and maintenance safety project needs, according to an Association of Oregon Counties’ 2024 study on county road needs. 

That includes long-overdue safety improvements that include guardrails, rumble strips and reflective striping, said Brian Worley, the association’s county road program director. 

Statewide, more than 4,500 miles of county roads will quickly deteriorate and need to be replaced because of a lack of funding for maintenance work, the study found. 

Routine maintenance saves money: $40,000 per mile on average can become $630,000 per mile after deterioration, Worley said. 

“A lot of counties have had to cut back, do with less,” Worley said.

Cities stretch dollars 

Springfield Mayor Sean VanGordon points to the importance of preserving and maintaining the roads on the front end. Without the maintenance work, roads will need reconstruction, an expensive proposition. 

The Mill Street reconstruction project in Springfield is an example, he said. 

“You really have to replace an entire road, because the road’s dead,” he said. 

The Mill Street project’s cost is about $17 million for design and construction, which includes tearing up the old road and replacing it and adding sidewalks, bike lanes, lighting and curb ramps for wheelchairs.

Locally raised dollars only go so far: Springfield voters passed a $20 million bond in 2024 for road work. 

Roads connect a community and are needed for its economic vitality, VanGordon said.

“Everything from economics to how we live our daily lives to how we access businesses really depend on a solid road system for us to be able to do that,” he said.

While VanGordon looks forward to the special session, he said long-term solutions still will be necessary afterward.

“Anything that they do in the special session is not going to fix our transportation system for all the time,” he said. 

In Eugene, more than 12% of the lanes on city roads are in poor or very poor condition, a 2024 city report shows. That classification means the roads require either substantial repairs to fix pavement cracks and potholes or need full reconstruction. 

Of Eugene’s 1,408 lane miles, 4.3%, or about 60 miles, are ranked in “very poor” condition, meaning they need full reconstruction. Another 8.4%, or 118 miles, are in poor condition, requiring substantial repairs and overlays, city records show. 

Eugene receives nearly $14 million annually for transportation from the state’s 40-cent gasoline tax. A local gasoline tax of 5 cents a gallon provides Eugene another $2.9 million annually. 

A bond measure, passed in 2008, also generates another $12 million a year in property taxes for Eugene’s needs. Voters have renewed the bond measure every five years since then.

Even so, the city has a repair backlog of about $158 million. 

Marion Suitor Barnes, a spokesperson for Eugene’s Public Works Department, said the city has to prioritize where it spends its maintenance money. It focuses on areas in the worst shape and how important it is in connecting the city, such as the Chambers Street Bridge.

Transit needs 

In the Lane Transit District, passengers board buses more than 5 million times annually. Routes serve Eugene and Springfield and also reach outlying communities in the county like Cottage Grove, Florence and Blue River. 

The proposed increase in transit funding would help add stability to budget planning and overall operations, said Sam Kelly-Quattrocchi, the Lane Transit District’s government relations manager. 

The uncertainty of federal funding, long a reliable source of dollars for transit services, adds another dimension to the planning. 

“These state dollars could be more and more important if the federal government becomes less and less reliable,” Kelly-Quattrocchi said. 

The increase in the payroll tax for transit services wouldn’t go toward any designated projects at this time in Lane County. But in general, the increase could provide funding to potentially allow pilot projects to gain traction if they attract wide rider interest. 

“The big shift is: How we go from a pilot to a permanent fixture?” he said. 

One example is a pilot project would serve riders in southern Lane County.

Public can weigh in 

Before the session starts Friday, members of the public have a chance to weigh in on transportation needs and the governor’s proposal. 

A public hearing is scheduled for 3 p.m. Monday, Aug. 25, in Hearing Room F at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem. Oregonians can testify in person, virtually, or with written testimony. You can go here for more information about how to submit testimony. 

The special session will begin Friday, Aug. 29 in Salem.

“Our economy and our local communities depend on safe and reliable roads and bridges,” said House Speaker Julie Fahey, D-West Eugene and co-chair of the Joint Interim Committee on Transportation Funding. “This special session is our opportunity to stabilize critical city, county, and statewide transportation services now, while laying the groundwork for a sustainable, long-term funding solution.”