Transportation and Development

The 5-year pavement management plan

The following roads are scheduled for resurfacing in the next five years. There are many variables that go into planning treatments to extend the life of the roads based on the rate at which they deteriorate, so projects and their order may change, or specific roads may be removed or added. Road construction contractors are hired to complete these projects through a competitive bid process. 

Choosing roads for resurfacing

While it might seem like it makes sense to pave the worst roads first, totally reconstructing a road can be up to ten times more expensive than planning for resurfacing treatments to extend the life of a road. Our pavement management plan will help to reduce the number of roads that reach the level of reconstruction, which means we can improve the quality of more roads each year.

First, we determine the condition of our 1,400 miles of roadway. Every year, we rate the condition of 50% of main roads and 25% of local roads using technology that inspects the surface condition as well as tests that provide data on the road structure that is not visible. We use software to predict the deterioration rate of pavement with a score between 0 and 100 to determine which roads would be best to repair. Using this information, we are able to plan resurfacing projects within the limits of our annual budget.

Our county goal is to maintain a pavement condition index at 70 or higher.

To reach this goal, we use surface treatments like chip seal and slurry seal to extend the life of roads and repave roads before total reconstruction is needed.

• Chip seal
  To extend the life of main roads in good condition, a chip seal is applied about 10 years after paving to seal any small cracks that may be forming and restore a flexible surface to the roadway. This may be done two or three times to stop water from seeping through the surface and damaging the pavement and road base. A chip seal adds about 7-10 years to the life of asphalt.
• Slurry seal
  To extend the life of local roads in good condition, a slurry seal is applied to improve traction, repel water from the surface and to slow deterioration. This may be done two or three times to stop water from seeping through the surface and damaging the pavement and road base. A slurry seal adds about 5-7 years to the life of asphalt.
• Paving
  When a road has significant cracking, or is failing due to issues under the surface, then we need to repave sections of road. Paving adds structure to the road and fixes distressed areas. Part of paving work includes improving drainage along the roadway, improving rock or paved shoulders and restriping the road. A repaved road has a life expectancy of 15-20 years with regularly scheduled maintenance and 20-30 years with regularly scheduled surface treatments.

Our team monitors this data every year and makes adjustments as necessary to preserve the life our roads while using our limited resources wisely.

Project Funding 

Road resurfacing is paid for by the County Road Fund and state gas taxes (HB2017), and the Community Road Fund. The Community Road Fund pays for projects on select local roads that would not be possible without this local source of funding.

Related Webpages

• Summer paving schedule
• Road restoration
• Transportation construction projects
• 5-year capital improvement project list  
• Report a road concern

This 15-member committee of community members works with staff to:

• Develop criteria to analyze potential capital congestion relief projects to be funded with countywide vehicle registration fee revenue.
• Apply that criteria to the high priority congestion relief projects in the County’s Transportation System Plan (TSP) to identify and prioritize the projects.
• Recommend the order in which capital projects should be constructed.
• Review the project list annually and report progress to the Board of Commissioners.

Committee Members

• Rich Fiala
• Sue Hein
• Warren Holzem
• Nathan McCarty
• Bill Merchant  
• Chad Parker
• April Quinn-McGinnis    
• Marge Stewart 
• Julia Gassner
• Roy Alcorn
• Ilona Petrofskiy
• Laurie Freeman-Swanson
• Jay Panagos
• Don Morgan
• Jeff Caton 

Projects funded through the Community Road Fund increase safety, relieve congestion and maintain local roads.

Quick Facts

What is the countywide vehicle registration fee?

The vehicle registration fee is a consistent source of local, countywide revenue that allows us to complete projects most important to our residents and businesses. Revenue from the fee funds the Community Road Fund program.

• Fees collected can only be used for road projects in Clackamas County.
• Clackamas’ vehicle registration fee is $30/year for most passenger vehicles ($2.50/month) and $15/year for motorcycles.
• In April 2022, the Board of Commissioners approved reducing the county fee for utility and travel trailers to $5/year. The lower fee is expected to go into effect by January 2023.
• Funds from the vehicle registration fee are dedicated to the county (50%), cities in the county (40%, distributed according to population) and strategic county-city partnership projects (10%, see Strategic Investment Fund in project list).

Prior to the vehicle registration passing in 2020, Clackamas County was the only county in the Portland metropolitan area without a local source of funds to maintain its roads and build improvements. Although Clackamas County has more miles of roads than Multnomah and Washington counties, we receive the least amount of funding to maintain and improve roads, bridges, bike lanes, sidewalks, traffic signals and more. 

Videos

On Jan. 28, 2020 the OGLO Policy Committee took the following actions:

• Accepted the final report of the feasibility study
• Recommended the following next steps:
  • Take no further action on the proposed bridge alignments given the political realities with the recent withdrawal of the City of Lake Oswego from the process and that the current landing points are not supported by the communities at this time, and
  • Study pedestrian/bicycle crossings of the Willamette River on public or private land north and south of the City of Lake Oswego, consistent with adopted Clackamas County Transportation System Plan Project #2022 that identifies the project area for the bridge as being Sellwood to Oregon City.

Final Report (accepted by Policy Committee Jan. 28, 2020)

Executive Summary & Report
Appendices A-D
Appendices E-G

Policy Committee Meeting #4 - Jan. 28, 2020
Press release - Jan. 28, 2020

The CC HB2017 TAC was formed in response to the Oregon State Legislature’s passage of House Bill 2017, which established the Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund (STIF). 

Meetings

All meetings are open to the public and include time for public comment.

The Advisory Committee, made up of representatives from public transit agencies and diverse groups within Clackamas County, is responsible for:

• Reviewing proposed projects to be funded by the STIF funds in areas of Clackamas County outside of the TriMet district and
• Recommending projects that should be incorporated into the broader plan that will be submitted by TriMet (the qualified entity for the area, as specified in the law) to the Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC) for approval.

For more information about the Clackamas County HB2017 Transit Advisory Committee, contact: 

• Teresa Christopherson, Clackamas County Social Services, at teresachr@clackamas.us or 503-650-5718, or
• Karen Buehrig, Clackamas County Transportation Planning, at karenb@clackamas.us or 503-742-4683.

Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund (STIF)

The Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund (STIF) was approved by the Oregon Legislature as part of House Bill 2017, Keep Oregon Moving.  STIF provides a new dedicated source of funds to expand public transportation to access jobs, improve mobility, relieve congestion and reduce greenhouse gas emissions around the state.

STIF is funded by a new state payroll tax of one-tenth of one percent.  The average employee contribution of less than $1 per week is expected to generate $115 million each year for improved public transportation. 

STIF may be used to support the effective planning, deployment, operation and administration of public transportation funds, including:

• Creating new transit systems and services
• Maintaining or continuing transit systems and services
• Creating plans to improve public transit service
• Meeting matching requirements for state or federal funds used to provide public transportation services

The law requires the establishment of advisory committees to help the qualified entities (mass transit districts, transportation districts, Indian tribes or counties in which no part of a mass transit or transportation district exists) to advice on projects to be funded by STIF.

More information about STIF