Transportation Funding Crisis: You're Invited to the Conversation
- Hillsdale News
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
[February 10, 2026]
Urgent Conversation about Transportation Funding
District 4 Local Transportation Funding Open House
Date: Thursday, February 19
Time: 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Location: Rieke Elementary School Gym (1405 SW Vermont St.)
How should Portland raise new revenue for transportation infrastructure maintenance, and where should it be spent? Just weeks ago, a pothole was suspected to have contributed to a cyclist’s death in Portland, making this not just a dry policy issue, but one with real-life consequences.
Citing a long-term decline in funding for transportation in the City budget, District 4 Councilor Olivia Clark last year sponsored a successful resolution setting up a process to identify new funding sources. That new process has kicked off with open house events in each district to discuss funding with reps from the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT).
From the PBOT webpage: "As the city's transportation maintenance backlog continues to grow, Portland City Council is considering new ways to fund the maintenance and operation of Portland's streets, sidewalks, bridges, signs, lights, and other infrastructure." The open house is an opportunity for Portland residents to join the conversation about local transportation funding and weigh in on a variety of options and opportunities.
According to the resolution, PBOT’s budget has declined every year since 2019 as revenues from gas taxes and parking fees have fallen. In addition, 70% existing funding sources are legally or contractually restricted, limiting their use for addressing critical gaps in operations and street maintenance.
Clark's resolution cites cracked pavements, unsafe crossings, crumbling streets, and potholes, with pavement conditions that continue to deteriorate, noting that 56% of busy streets and 64% of local streets are currently rated in poor or worse condition.
The measure aligns with Clark’s focus on strengthening basic city services and addressing long-neglected management of public assets. As the resolution notes, Portland’s street network is the City’s largest physical asset.
What's on the Table?
A December 2025 PBOT report to the City Council’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee reviewed a wide range of potential revenue mechanisms. The report identified four options as the most ready for further public engagement, discussion, and policy refinement in the short to mid term.
Those options include:
Transportation Utility Fee – a monthly fee charged to residents and businesses included on regular utility bills. In metro area cities using the fee, the average monthly cost is $12.08 for a single family home and $9.49 for a unit in a multi-family structure.
Street Damage Restoration Fee – paid by utilities that cut into public streets. Much of the fees would likely be passed on to a broad base of people paying utility bills.
Third-Party Food Delivery Fee – paid by consumers using third-party food delivery apps. The estimated annual cost to an individual ranges from $4.75 to $10, with the potential for $2.1-$4.2 million in revenue a year, depending on the adopted rate.
Retail Delivery Fee – paid by consumers receiving most retail goods delivered to Portland addresses. Two states—Colorado and Minnesota—have approved similar fees but have not yet implemented them. PBOT estimates the annual cost to an individual at approximately $10 to 21, with potential revenue estimated at $4.7-$9.3 milion, depending the adopted rate.
Other mechanisms reviewed that could be studied for later discussion include a sales tax, congestion pricing, new parking fees, studded tire fees, among a long list of othe options.
The report lists impacts from inadequate funding:
Worsening Condition of Roads
A growing percentage of roads, bridges, signals and other infrastructure are in disrepair. The longer we wait to repair these the more expensive and expansive the problems become.
Travelers experience increasing potholes, bridges with weight restrictions, faded crosswalks, and broken signals.
Over the last five-years, the percentage of streets in poor condition has increased significantly—from 55% to 72% on local streets and from 43% to 64% on busy streets.
Almost half of the bridges PBOT maintains are at or past their expected asset life and twenty percent are weight restricted.
Streets Less Safe
Traffic fatalities and serious injuries remain unacceptably high.
Lack of funding to fully implement safety improvements even on the relatively small percentage of our streets that are the most dangerous.
Every year staff receive requests that cannot be fulfilled to create a safer system through things like residential speed calming.
There is a huge unmet need for even relatively small safety interventions like improving visibility at corners, small sidewalk infill projects, and adding pedestrian head start signals.
Communities Less Livable
PBOT struggles to meet community expectations around basic cleanliness and services, including addressing increases in graffiti.
Residential street sweeping and leaf pickup services are far below the level of demand.
Responding to increasingly extreme snow and ice events means diverting resources from other basic services.
PBOT cannot meet expectations around other increasingly common weather-related events such as landslide response, repair and prevention.
At the January 12 meeting of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, District 4 Councilor Mitch Green emphasized the importance of delivering visible results. “If we pass new fees, it’s important to follow up with a blitz of high-impact, quality-of-life improvement investments,” he said.
PBOT Director Millicent Williams agreed, noting that projects are already lined up. “Once the spigot is turned on, the team is ready to deliver,” she said.
—Valeurie Friedman
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