Gov. Kotek hopes to call a special session to pass a funding package for the troubled agency; federal funding for Rose Quarter Expansion in doubt.
The Oregon Department of Transportation is bracing for major cuts in the next state budget, including the termination of 600 to 700 employees.
Last month, the Oregon Legislature ended its 2025 session without passing a vital transportation funding package, HB 2025. Passing a bill that could help ODOT fund road and bridge maintenance and keep the lights on at various locations around the state.
Since the session ended June 27, the Oregon Journalism Project reports that Gov. Tina Kotek worked the phones hard to prevent the terminationof hundreds of union jobs at ODOT, which is scheduled to go into effect July 31. Another round of layoffs could happen in 2026. The governor had attempted to broker a last-minute deal for one of her priority issues in the waning days of the session, to no avail.
Democrats hold supermajorities in both legislative chambers, meaning they could have passed a bill with only Democratic votes. They attempted to pass a funding package that offset funding ODOT with new tax revenue, but all three versions of the bill introduced in the session’s final week were unsuccessful. Those proposals also received zero Republican votes.
OJP reports lawmakers think the governor is planning a special session prior to Labor Day that could possibly focus on a six-cent increase in the gas tax, and other possible fees. Cities in Oregon receive 50% of gas tax revenue. It’s not thought Republicans would take part in the special session.
As planned, the ODOT layoffs — and closing of unfilled vacancies — affect positions across the state and ODOT’s org chart, and will result in the shuttering of a dozen maintenance stations.
“This emergency was preventable, and we still have time to intervene,” Kotek wrote in a statement. “I have not and will not stop fighting for Oregonians who rely on us to keep our roads safe and people and products moving. Come winter, without a shared commitment to solve this crisis from partners and lawmakers, Oregonians will be left out in the cold — literally.”
A transportation bill could have potentially contained funding for a major Portland-area project years in the making. Now, lawmakers are scrambling with the apparent loss of $465 million in federal funding for the Rose Quarter Expansion, which has an estimated price tag of $2 billion. Stipulations in President Donald Trump’s budget bill appear to remove federal funding secured for the project.
The project is ambitious in scope and has only grown more so since development began in 2017. It was initially focused on widening Interstate 5 and improving features near Portland’s Rose Quarter. The plan now includes a cap over the freeway and bridge over the interstate for bicyclists and pedestrians.
The Oregonian reported that the state official managing the project, ODOT’s Megan Channell, resigned and her last day was Monday. Channell, who was hired in 2016, had overseen the project for six years.
Despite the apparent massive budget gap, construction on the project is scheduled to begin next month.
