‘We’re going to make sure it’s safe for everyone:’ Bend-area transportation planners discuss ODOT winter maintenance cuts

(Update: adding video, comments from ODOT, Bend City Council member)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The rise of hybrid and electric vehicles, as well as increased fuel efficiency in gas-powered vehicles, has been creating challenges for highway funding that relies on gas taxes. The declining revenue amid rising costs is making for government challenges and some hard choices now under scrutiny.

"Gas tax revenues are declining, inflation is at an-all time high." Oregon Department of Transportation Central Oregon Area Manager Robert Townsend said Friday at the Bend Metropolitan Planning Organization's meeting. "Certainly our our budget is impacted by both those factors, and the most imminent effects of those budget reductions are in our winter maintenance service."

Bend City Councilor Ariel Mendez says if you look at the numbers, the agency's gas tax revenue has actually increased.

"If you look at the actual revenue of of the gas tax that the state is collecting, it hasn't declined. There's actually around a $19 million increase from last year compared to this year." Mendez said.

ODOT says their budgets are based on projections for the future.

Townsend said, "The projections are that there's substantial declines. so you know, expenses are here, revenues down," gesturing in the air. "We're now at that point where those two lines are crossing."

Mendez acknowledged, "We still see an increase in costs. There's a mismatch between the revenue that the state collects and the cost to actually provide winter maintenance, like plowing and all the other maintenance like re-striping and graffiti removal and things like that."

ODOT recently responded to the budge issues by announcing reductions in some expenses and services, most notably winter maintenance on less-traveled routes.

Many residents are concerned that this means ODOT won't be plowing the roads at all. That's not the case.

Townsend presented a "Winter Levels of Service" map at the Bend MPO's meeting. It shows a range of service levels, from A to E, with Service A being the highest priority. They have to prioritize where their staff is going because they're limited.

"The general public is really not going to know the difference level of service, compared to Level A to Level B just means maybe during shift changes, we're not out there. It's not 240hour coverage, but during storm events we're going to be out there." Townsend said.

"During storm events, we're going to be present, we're going to get the roads open," he added. "We're going to make sure it's safe for everyone. It's just going to be a little bit less this year than it was last year."

Highway 97 is the highest level of priority, at Service Level A, according to the map.

The Bend MPO meeting also discussed proposed amendments to the 2024-2027 Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program. Tyler Deke also presented a proposal to adjust the budget for BMPO FY24 COVID relief funding. The full agenda is available here.