As the Oregon Department of Transportation plans to toll I-205 and I-5 beginning in 2026, a group of Clackamas County residents is hoping to stop the agency in its tracks.
The Vote Before Tolls initiative , which organizers are hoping to place on Oregon ballots in November, would amend the Oregon Constitution to require a majority of residents of counties within 15 miles of any road to be tolled within the state to approve of the toll in a certified election. As written, the ballot initiative would require a vote for tolls on I-5 and I-205, even though the Oregon Legislature allowed ODOT to toll those interstates with legislation passed in 2017.
To make the November ballot, the initiative also known as IP-4 needs 180,000 signatures sent to the Oregon Secretary of State’s office by July 5, though initiative author and Vote Before Tolls Chief Petitioner Dean Suhr is hoping for 200,000.
No Toll Army becomes Vote Before Tolls
Suhr, a West Linn resident, and a handful of other Clackamas County residents unhappy with ODOT’s toll proposals — and the fact that their concerns seemed to fall on deaf ears at the agency — began the initiative in 2021. It was at that time called the “No Toll Army.”