While Oregon's Dept. of Transportation has become mired in study rather than creating new lane capacity around the state, a study by TRIP, a Washington, D.C. transportation research group finds that driving on roads in need of repair cost Oregonian motorists an extra $564 million per year for repairs.
That amounts to an average cost of $209 per motorist.
More important, however, a total of 2,380 people died on Oregon's highways from 2001 through 2005 (the most recent period available at the time of the study).
The report notes that two land roads are significantly more dangerous. Nationwide, it found that "76 percent of all crashes occur on two-lane roads," while only 14 percent occur on roads with four or more lanes.
Even while the Newberg Dundee traffic problem includes some major potholes and gullies, the state maintained road has major structural problems as ODOT continues to plan for a bypass route, despite a lack of funding.
Since 1956, Oregon has benefitted from Federal Highway Trust Funds to the tune of $8.5 billon, but the report notes some major deficiencies in Oregon's transportation grid. Among the findings:
- Twenty-five percent of Oregon's major roads are in poor or mediocre condition.
- Twenty-five percent of Oregon's bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.
- Thirty-seven percent of Oregon's major urban highways are congested.
The report also notes people's reliance on the car. It shows that 88 percent of all "person miles" are done in automobiles, compared to eight percent in air travel and only one percent in mass transit, including trains and buses.
It also cites that the cost of motor vehicle crashes in Oregon is $1.9 billion per year or $569 per resident average "in medical costs, lost productivity, travel delays, workplace costs, insurance cost and legal costs."
The study is available here. It was updated in Feb. 2007.