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Podcast: Cascade CounterPoint
Episode: QP: More Money Needs to Mean More Roads
Description: A committee of the Oregon legislature will soon be traveling around the state taking testimony on how to pay for Oregon’s network of highways, bridges and roads.
Since 1919, Oregon has relied on gas taxes for road maintenance, but costs are rising faster than tax revenues. One option is to enact mileage-based user fees, also known as tolls. But Gov. Kotek recently shut down ODOT’s plan for highway tolling in the Portland area, due to widespread opposition. Tolling would be more palatable for new facilities, but we never build any in Oregon.
Elsewhere, things are...