Pricing, Funding and Markets
Pricing, funding and markets help cover the costs associated with people and freight using the transportation system.
Every time a person drives a vehicle on Oregon’s transportation system, there are costs associated with that trip. Some costs are obvious, like repairing the wear and tear that vehicles inflict on Oregon’s roads and bridges.
Other costs of driving are less obvious. For example:
Individual medical bills from traffic crashes.
Community health costs from local air pollution.
Lost time and money spent stuck in congested traffic.
Vehicle greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.
Each action in the Pricing, Funding and Markets category uses transportation fees to help address the costs of driving. The fees pay the costs and act as an incentive for people to drive less. This also lowers greenhouse gas emissions.
Evolving how we pay for transportation costs
For over 100 years, Oregon has relied on various transportation fees to help pay transportation costs. Gas taxes, title and registration fees, and tolls are common methods.
Today, many of those systems are struggling. They can’t keep up with inflation and aren’t flexible enough to incorporate new transportation technology.
The overall vision of Pricing, Funding and Markets calls for restructuring how we price the transportation system. It updates our legacy systems, embraces new ones, and pays for costs we haven’t been able to pay for yet.
The vision sends a clear message to drivers: If you drive less, you will pay less. And for the miles you do drive, you’ll pay your fair share of costs.
The vision also understands that some people in Oregon need to drive for certain trips. Transportation agencies must consider differences in several factors when pricing the transportation system, like location, access, safety, maintenance needs, and others.
Restructuring transportation costs
We break down transportation costs into a cost per mile framework. Different cost elements of driving, like fuel, vehicle maintenance, and taxes/fees, all add up to the overall cost per mile to drive. In 2020, the average driver paid about $0.25 per mile in overall costs.
Data and modeling suggest that if we follow our long-term vision for pricing the transportation system, the average driver’s per mile transportation costs will be about the same in 2050 — $0.25 per mile — as they were in 2020 (accounting for inflation).
What will change by 2050 is the amount we pay for the different cost elements of driving. New laws, policies and technology advances will shift the amounts we pay; more will go towards fees and less will go towards fuel and vehicle maintenance. This shift will help create a sustainable revenue system that covers Oregon’s multimodal transportation system needs.
The Pricing Vision chart helps illustrate how the cost elements shift from 2020 to 2050.
The left bar represents the cost elements as they were in 2020. Fuel and vehicle maintenance take up most of the overall cost, while taxation is much smaller.
The middle bar represents continuing with our current Plans and Trends into the future where we do not achieve the vision of restructuring costs. Continuing our current costs will not be enough to cover the state’s transportation system needs. Taxes and fees would be too low to keep up with inflation and would not provide a sustainable revenue source to maintain the transportation system.
The right bar represents our Future Vision where we restructure how transportation is paid for by 2050. By then, most drivers will have electric vehicles, which are cheaper to maintain and more energy efficient than internal combustion vehicles. That’s why the fuel and vehicle maintenance costs are smaller.
Taxes and fees are larger cost elements in our 2050 vision. New laws and policies, like a road usage charging program, will drive this shift to both stabilize and provide sustainable, long-term revenue needed to maintain the transportation system.
Vehicle insurance is another cost that drivers face. Shifting to pay as you drive insurance, which sets rates based on how often or far you drive, gives drivers more say in their rates. If they drive less, they pay less. (Learn more on the Other True Costs of Driving page)
Our 2050 pricing vision benefits drivers and their communities. The costs people pay to drive will be allocated differently, but the overall costs will be roughly the same as in 2020 (accounting for inflation). Plus, under the vision, drivers that choose to drive less, will pay less. People who must drive will have a safer, more efficient trip.
How the revenue is used
Federal and state laws control how revenue from road pricing actions can be used. Each type of pricing action comes with limitations on what it can fund.
In some cases, revenue must directly pay for the infrastructure it serves — like a bridge toll used to maintain that bridge — or it can support other projects on the same priced road, like digital traffic information signs.
In other cases, road pricing revenue is collected from drivers across the system and isn’t tied to a specific piece of infrastructure. By Oregon law, this kind of revenue must be invested in “road right of way” projects, or ones that are on or near the road.
Carbon pricing applies to more than transportation, so it has a different method for generating and dispersing revenue. See the section below for more details.
Markets
Markets refers to market forces that are beyond direct state government control. Market forces affect how people in Oregon use the transportation system, which can affect Oregon’s progress to address climate change.
For example, Oregon’s population growth has slowed in recent years, which means fewer people driving and less greenhouse gas emissions. Fuels costs are another example. Despite a price spike in 2026, fuel costs have been historically low, which encourages people to drive more and be less conscious about their vehicle’s efficiency.
Despite market forces being out of the state’s direct control, experts still factor them in when determining Oregon’s climate change future.
See the Passenger Vehicle page for market impacts on electric vehicle adoption, including decisions by consumers and automakers.
Progress snapshot
Road usage charging, where drivers pay their fair share for using roads, can help recover that revenue and incentivize people to drive less. In 2025, the Oregon Legislature mandated a road usage charging program (called OReGO) for all registered hybrid and electric vehicles.
However, the 2025 law did not change the OReGO per mile rates. Additionally, OReGO’s administrative costs are currently higher than the costs associated with collecting gas tax revenue. That means less money for the state to use overall.
Congestion pricing
Congestion pricing is a type of toll that reduces traffic congestion by shifting some trips to non-driving means or other times of day. Tolling can both manage emissions from congestion and raise revenue to maintain our multi-modal transportation system. As of 2026, ODOT awaits legislative direction to determine the future of Oregon tolls.
Carbon pricing
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality runs market-based programs that incentivize the use of lower emission fuels. The programs are expected to accelerate Oregon’s transition to lower emission fuels through a mix of industry regulation and consumer incentives. The programs may also fund non-driving options.
Other true costs of driving
“True cost” examines the less obvious costs from driving and suggests ways to restructure how those costs are paid for. Enrollment is extremely low in “pay as you drive” insurance programs that save people money for driving less. Progress in paying for social costs of driving has stagnated, too, but state agencies are considering how to structure fees based on vehicle weight and other factors.
Road cost recovery
This action is identified as a high risk area that represents reversed progress from previous cycles. Oregon lacks sustainable, long-term funding to maintain our transportation system and low-emission modes. A stronger shift to paying the full cost of road usage provides a price signal for reducing vehicle miles traveled.
As more people in Oregon choose fuel efficient hybrid vehicles or electric vehicles, gas tax revenue is leveling off and will start to decline.
Explore each category below for an in-depth breakdown of our progress.