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Stakeholders raise governance and tolling concerns as OTC considers bridge funding
Summary
Members of the Dress Crossing Alliance and others told the commission the phase‑1 scope appears to have been set without adequate public process and warned that tolling only I‑5 (not I‑205) would cause network-level distortions.
Chris Smith, representing the Dress Crossing Alliance, told the commission he is concerned about who decided the phase‑1 scope and said that critical scope choices appeared to be made by consultants and agencies rather than through a public vote or the executive steering group. "The phase 1 scope is a critical choice, and there ought to be some public process around that," Smith said.
Smith also urged a systemwide approach to congestion management, saying "tolling I‑5 without tolling I‑205 has all kinds of perverse effects," and that designing tolling only on one crossing could divert traffic and worsen regional congestion. Staff responded that decisions on phasing and scope will involve the executive steering committee, ODOT, WSDOT and funding partners, and that the commission will receive regular reports and would approve future STIP amendments that change financial commitments.
