Oregon officials said input from 4,600 individuals and organizations regarding the I-205 Toll Project marked the start of the environmental review process required by the National Environmental Policy Act.
Feedback addressed the draft project’s purpose, including tolling scenarios and ways to implement tolls, officials said, illustrating the need for more public engagement to better explain how toll systems work, the benefits realized, and how decisions will be made.
The proposed work scope involves tolling all lanes of Interstate 205 near the Abernethy Bridge to raise revenue, improve travel reliability and manage congestion. The revenue could help pay for highway improvements along the corridor, with tolls being collected electronically without toll booths to keep traffic flowing.
“Clearly, there is more work to do,” said Lucinda Broussard, Oregon Toll Program director. “The comments we received from the community demonstrate the confusion around this type of tolling, which makes sense considering this has never been done before in Oregon.”
Authorities indicated online survey data determined about half of the respondents live in Clackamas County and rely on I-205 for multiple trips a week.
“We’ve seen at the beginning of other toll projects how community support starts low,” Broussard said. “With so many unknowns, it’s easy to understand why no one wants to pay more for travel. However, tolling projects in regions like ours show us once a toll is implemented, trips improve, and travel times reduce, people start to appreciate and support it.”
The next steps include conducting a detailed analysis of tolling benefits and tolling impacts, with results then published for public review in a draft Environmental Assessment in 2022.