Your Opportunity to Comment
On Sept. 1, 2024, the public comment period will open for Oregon limited toll rules updates. The comment period will end Oct. 3, 2024. Draft rules will be posted Sept. 1, 2024.
The proposed limited rules focus on how the OTC will designate a road a tollway, as well as the process for the OTC to set, review, and update rates, as having processes in place for all of these will be needed to move forward on the planned bi-state facility on the Interstate Bridge.
A virtual public hearing on the draft rules will be held on Sept. 18, 12-1:30 p.m. PT. We plan to present the draft rules to the OTC for their formal approval at the Nov. 14, 2024 meeting.
Contact us if you have questions. More information coming soon.
Background:
In March of this year, ODOT paused work on various elements of Oregon's toll program. This included indefinitely pausing work on any tolling of I-205 Abernethy Bridge and halting work entirely on the Regional Mobility Pricing Project, which was exploring tolling all of I-5 and I-205 on the Oregon side of the Portland metro region. The only tolled facility moving forward is the Interstate Bridge Replacement program, which would be tolled by the Washington State Department of Transportation, with toll rates and policies jointly set by the Washington State Transportation Commission (WSTC) and the Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC). To follow this process, subscribe to updates from the Bi-state tolling subcommittee, made up of members from OTC and WSTC as they continue to discuss the toll rates and policies related to the Interstate Bridge.
ODOT paused further work on the rules until we could determine what portion of the rules need to move forward. We have developed a limited set of proposed rule updates for a public comment process.
These limited toll rules are based on the draft rules that the Statewide Toll Rulemaking Advisory Committee helped ODOT develop for tolling. Those rules were refined by the Oregon Department of Justice. A number of sections that were included in the original draft update, including discounts and exemptions, are not included because they were related to collection of tolls by ODOT and ODOT is no longer collecting tolls.