Oregon Toll Program Update: We need your feedback about transportation challenges on I-5 and I-205

Oregon Department of Transportation sent this bulletin at 07/22/2021 03:03 PM PDT

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In this issue:

  • Tell us: What are the biggest transportation challenges on I-5 and I-205?
  • Tolls could help address transportation problems on I-5 and I-205.
  • Equity and Mobility Advisory Committee meets on July 28.

What's happening this week?

Tell us about transportation challenges on I-5 and I-205. 

Thank you for your responses last week to our survey about potential toll benefits! So far, we’ve received over 1,600 responses to our two quick surveys.

Traffic delays on the highway can lead to traffic problems in local communities, while also negatively impacting our climate, safety, and health. We need a new approach.

This week – in our series of one-minute surveys – we want to know what you think about transportation challenges on I-205 and I-5 in the Portland metro area. Please take our quick survey linked here!

Missed the earlier surveys? It’s not too late! Use the links below to tell us what you think.

Simple survey number three infographic.

How can tolls help?

Tolls could help address transportation problems on I-5 and I-205. 

In last month’s eNews we described how travelers need to get to, through and around greater Portland – and our transportation infrastructure isn't keeping pace with our needs. The Regional Mobility Pricing Project will focus on solutions to these problems. To guide our work, we asked for your help in improving the “Problem Statement.”

If you would like to provide input on the draft Problem Statement, please email your comments to the project team at OregonTolling@odot.state.or.us and put “Problem Statement” in the subject line. To help inform our planning, we invite responses by Friday, July 30.

Equity and Mobility Advisory Committee Meeting

The Equity and Mobility Advisory Committee is studying ways to advance equity in:

  • Transit and multimodal: Improve public transportation and other travel options.
  • Neighborhood health and safety: Minimize or lessen impacts to neighborhoods near toll roads.
  • Affordability and environmental justice: Consider impacts to people experiencing low incomes or who are underserved.

We know a successful toll program must address these factors, based on what we’ve heard from the public.

Neighborhood health and safety

Join us for the next Equity and Mobility Advisory Committee meeting on Wednesday, July 28 at 3:30 p.m. The focus will be on neighborhood health and safety. Topics include strategies to minimize impacts on historically underserved neighborhoods and the effects of drivers using local streets to avoid tolls.  Updated meeting information, including links to participate on Zoom or view the YouTube livestream, is available under Meeting Information on the committee’s webpage.

Recent meeting outcomes

In April and May, the Equity and Mobility Advisory Committee discussed transit and multimodal strategies to be implemented with a toll program.  The committee's preferred actions included:

  • Exempting public transit vehicles and registered vanpools and carpools from paying tolls.
  • Creating an integrated and easy-to-use fare system coordinated between Oregon and Washington, as well as across different types of mobility (for example, bike, scooter, carpooling, car sharing).
  • Pursuing a regional vision for bus-on-shoulder service with connections to local mobility hubs.

How to get involved

The Equity and Mobility Advisory Committee is studying ways to advance equity in these areas. The committee will share their findings with the Oregon Transportation Commission. Over the next four months, please follow along and participate in this important process. Committee meetings are the last Wednesday of each month. You can find links for meetings and recordings of previous meetings here. Submit written comments at any time to the committee by emailing Oregontolling@odot.state.or.us

Equity and Mobility Advisory Committee participants.

About the Oregon Toll Program 

The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has two toll projects underway in the Portland metro area – the I-205 Toll Project and the Regional Mobility Pricing Project – to manage traffic on I-205 and I-5 in a way that is equitable and addresses climate change and safety. While separate projects, they inform each other. Toll prices will be higher at peak traffic times, a concept known as “congestion pricing.” Congestion pricing will help to manage traffic and raise money for investments that improve travel. With both projects:

  • Drivers only pay for what they use.
  • Tolls help traffic move more smoothly.
  • Tolls provide a more reliable trip.
  • Toll prices will not be a surprise.

The Oregon Department of Transportation needs your input to make tolls work for our community.

Stay connected. 

Please follow along with us to receive updates on the Regional Mobility Pricing Project and the I-205 Toll Project and tell us what's on your mind.

For more information and to sign up for email updates, please check out the project website or email the project team.

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The information in this document, and the public and agency input received, may be adopted or incorporated by reference into a future environmental review process to meet the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act.