Oregon lawmakers have spent more than a year trying and failing to secure more dollars to maintain the state’s roads and bridges. Yet, in public and private meetings this week in Salem, they have found themselves back at square one.
Without more funding soon, the Oregon Department of Transportation has warned it will have to cut back on road maintenance, emergency response and DMV services, as well as lay off nearly 500 workers and cut another 570 vacant positions.
With less than three weeks left until the start of this year’s five-week legislative session, lawmakers are attempting to craft a plan to address the agency’s $242 million budget deficit. In public committee meetings, they have scrutinized the department’s spending and thrown out a variety of ideas to maintain and fix Oregon’s highways and bridges, some more feasible than others…