Governor signs Ore. transportation package

By BRAD CAIN
Associated Press
Thursday, July 30, 2009 10:39 AM PDT

SALEM (AP) — A $300 million per year transportation package to upgrade roadways throughout Oregon and provide thousands of highway construction jobs in the future was signed into law Wednesday by Gov. Ted Kulongoski.

Passed by the 2009 Legislature, the package contains new fees on motorists to pay for highway improvements. Higher vehicle registration fees will go into effect this fall, and a 6-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax increase will take effect by January 2011. Because the fees are phased in, the transportation projects and the construction jobs they create won’t begin kicking in until next year’s construction season.

Still, Kulongoski and legislative leaders called the package a major investment, both in upgrading Oregon’s transportation system and creating jobs for Oregon’s struggling economy.

State highway officials have estimated the package will create and maintain 4,000 construction-related jobs a year over the next decade.

Many of those slots will go to construction workers who are employed at various bridge and road projects this summer, state officials said. But the transportation package will also involve hiring a substantial number of new workers for next construction season, they said.

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Those jobs can’t come soon enough for Bob Shiprack, executive secretary of the Oregon Building Trades Council. He said some of the workers he represents will get jobs on Oregon road projects at a time when private sector construction ‘‘is almost nonexistent.’’

‘‘It’s bad out there,’’ Shiprack said. ‘‘This is going to be substantial shot in the arm for heavy highway construction groups. There will be new positions, and it will save other people from being laid off.’’

The funding for those projects and jobs will come partly from a 6 cents per gallon increase in the current state gasoline tax of 24 cents. The increase will go into effect after two consecutive quarters of employment growth or by Jan. 1, 2011.

The two-year vehicle registration fee, now $54, will go up to $86. The vehicle title fee will go up from $55 to $77. The cost of plates increases from $5 a pair to $20.