Portland voters, buckle up; your May 21st ballot will include a familiar item — Measure 26-245, a continuation of the city's local gas tax at $0.10 per gallon, intended to fund a slew of transportation projects. The tax, which has been around since 2016 and was already renewed in 2020, aims to collect roughly $70.5 million over the next four years for street maintenance and safety services, all overseen by the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT).
The clock is ticking; with the current gas tax set to expire on December 31, 2024, failure to pass the measure means those potholes might not see a repair crew anytime soon, according to Portland's City site. If Portland denizens give the green light, each driver would continue shelling out an average of $5 monthly based on 12,000 yearly miles at 20 miles per gallon. The coin collected would go towards paving, traffic safety, and community street services, if passed everything would be monitored by a community oversight committee ensuring every dime goes where it's meant to.
Breaking down the financial pie, the plan sketches out penciling in $23.5 million for bustling street pavements and greenways, while local streets would see $4.5 million, as detailed on Portland's official website. Each of the four new city council districts is set for a slice of that paving action, alongside traffic calming measures like speed bumps and diverters on neighborhood streets, all part of a scheme to make thoroughfares safer and more accessible, leveraging PBOT's Equity Matrix for guidance.
In terms of keeping Portlanders safe, particularly the little ones, the measure earmarks $6 million for Safe Routes to School, alongside $9 million for small-scale safety upgrades on busy streets focusing on the High Crash Network, these strategies are part of the city's Vision Zero ambition to cut down street-related fatalities. Community street services aren't left by the wayside either, with potholes, gravel streets, and signal maintenance all part of the package set to improve road conditions for drivers and pedestrians alike, PBOT is tasked with keeping the streets shining like a new dime using a $23.5 million part of the budget, which also includes upgrades for pedestrian, bicycle, and public space retrofits.
Voters have a weighty choice to make; the push for safer and smoother streets rests on the passage of Measure 26-245. Come May 21, the direction of Portland's road maintenance and safety will be steered by the citizen's vote, stay tuned to see if Portland opts to keep its streets funded or pump the brakes on the gas tax.
