| Press Release |
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| March 27, 2003 |
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Transportation Announcement
Governor Ted Kulongoski today announced details about his proposal to address some of the transportation problems facing the state of Oregon. He said that Oregon's transportation infrastructure is crumbling and cited cracked bridges, traffic congestion and road maintenance backlogs as symptoms of the problems. Governor Kulongoski said he supports additional investments in infrastructure to solve these problems, which has the additional benefit of spurring the economy.
Speaking at the construction site for the Sunnybrook interchange on I-5 in Clackamas County, the Governor said he supports an increase in the vehicle registration fee by $15.00 per year, and the vehicle title fee by $30.00 in order to raise $134 million per year in new revenue. Oregon currently has a registration fee that is second lowest in the nation. The proposed increase would put Oregon tied at 46th lowest.
Additional revenues would be used to address $1.6 billion in cracked and deficient bridges on the state's major freight routes. Cities and counties with large road and street maintenance backlogs would receive additional dollars, and some will be used to build new projects like the Sunnybrook interchange and to provide transportation improvements for new industrial land development.
"This project illustrates another problem with our under-funded transportation infrastructure," Kulongoski said. "That is congestion. Congestion costs everyone time and money, destroys the predictability of our trips, and harms the quality of our air."
"We would not be good stewards of our state if we only addressed bridges on freight routes, and did not address congestion and air quality problems," he said.
The Governor traveled from an economic development lunch to the project site in a hybrid car. "Hybrid technology and other alternative vehicles demonstrate the future and will help alleviate environmental consequences of growth," Kulongoski said. "But we need to address the capacity of our system now to sustain the growth in Oregon's economy in the future," he said.
Governor Kulongoski added that infrastructure expenditures contribute to the state's economy by providing 5,300 family wage jobs per year for 10 years in road construction and maintenance.
"More than 60 years ago, President Roosevelt inaugurated dozens of public works programs, employing thousands of workers whose private sector jobs were eliminated by the Great Depression. They built roads, bridges, power plants, dams and other facilities like Timberline Lodge. All of that was the precursor for the enormous growth of the post-war years," Kulongoski said.
The total funding plan would raise $134.5 million per year. Some of the funds would be bonded to generate larger amounts, and other revenues would be split between state, county and city programs. The proceeds would be invested as follows over the next 10 years:
- $1.3 billion in bonds to replace or repair 344 state-owned bridges
- $300 million in bonds to replace or repair 125 county or city bridges
- $178 million for maintenance and operations on state highways
- $321 million for maintenance and operations on county roads
- $214 million for maintenance and operations on city streets
- $500 million in bonds for modernizing the highway system (new lanes, interchange improvements, etc.)
"Every bit of this work, every dollar of expenditure and every one of these bridge and highway projects will benefit every Oregonian by reducing bottlenecks and delays, by enabling commerce to move freely, and by improving the infrastructure the economy needs to thrive," he added.
Contact:
Mary Ellen Glynn 503.378.6496
Scott Ballo 503.378.6169
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