Three Mile / Steele Road, in which semi travel has obliterated the center stripe. Wasco County owns and maintains 660 miles of road and 65 bridges; if the Oregon Transportation Re-Investment Package (TRIP) is implemented, it would raise more than $1.9 billion per biennium.
Three Mile / Steele Road, in which semi travel has obliterated the center stripe. Wasco County owns and maintains 660 miles of road and 65 bridges; if the Oregon Transportation Re-Investment Package (TRIP) is implemented, it would raise more than $1.9 billion per biennium.
Columbia Gorge News file photo
WASCO CO. — Wasco County Public Works Director Arthur Smith has taken the unusual step of sending out a press release in favor of a funding framework for roads proposed by top Democrats in Salem.
If implemented, the Oregon Transportation Re-Investment Package, or TRIP, would raise more than $1.9 billion per biennium. To fund it, the proposal would raise gas taxes by 20 cents a gallon over the next six years; add a new tax set at 1% of the price of all cars, new and used, sold in the state; add a road usage charge for electric cars, a 3% tax on tire sales; and increase license and registration fees.
The framework would invest 90% of this new revenue in safety, operations, and maintenance across Oregon’s shared transportation system. Of that new revenue, 50% would be dedicated to cities and counties.
Over the last 30 years, Smith said, the federal government has significantly reduced funding for Oregon’s rural roads. In 2006, Wasco County received close to $1.9 million and now will only receive $121,000. The federal Secure Rural Schools Act, which provided federal funding to formerly timber-reliant counties, has not been reauthorized.
Whether such an ambitious package can pass intact is an open question at the moment, but the need is there.
In his press release, Smith reports that Wasco County owns and maintains 660 miles of road and 65 bridges. This includes almost 100 miles in poor or fair condition, eight structurally deficient bridges in poor condition and 17 heavy-truck-weight restricted bridges.
“Currently, Wasco County has many unmet maintenance needs,” he writes, “including pavement preservation, bridge rehabilitation, gravel road grading, and several important projects such as the Five Mile-Steele Road repair, Tygh Valley-Wamic safety improvements, and the Three Mile intersection reconstruction to name just a few.”
Smith continued, “The TRIP framework is a necessary and timely solution. It preserves the 30% share of State Highway Funds for counties while modernizing revenue sources and stabilizing long-term funding. These investments will help ensure that every Oregonian including those in Wasco County has access to safe roads, reliable bridges, and well-maintained infrastructure for years to come.”
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