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Drivers of Priuses and other vehicles will be able to participate in a voluntary program launching July 1, 2015, that will charge drivers a per-mile road usage fee in lieu of a gas tax.
(AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
The Oregon Department of Transportation is starting work on what the agency says will be the nation's first per-mile road usage fee program when it goes online July 1, 2015.
Under a bill passed by the Oregon Legislature last year, ODOT can charge drivers 1.5 cents per mile driven. In return, participating drivers will be issued a gas tax refund. The program, which is voluntary, can accommodate up to 5,000 cars and light commercial vehicles.
Participants will be given a choice of different technologies they can use to automatically report miles driven and manage payment options. ODOT is currently seeking technology vendors.
Oregon conducted two similar pilot projects in 2007 and 2012. This time around, the project is intended to serve as the foundation for a permanent, alternate method to raise money for the state's highways.
State officials have been researching the so-called "Prius tax" for years as a way to replace the gas tax, which doesn't generate much money from high-mileage electric and hybrid vehicles.
"Our vision is to create a reliable, easy-to-use, low cost, enforceable and publicly acceptable 'open' system that replaces the fuel tax," Jim Whitty, manager of the Office of Innovative Partnerships and Alternative Funding at ODOT, said in a press release. "A charge based on measured road use preserves fairness and accountability in supporting the state's system of roads and highways."
ODOT is facing a potentially massive funding hit. The state might lose 30 percent of its federal funding -- $150 million or more annually -- and cancel or delay highway projects if Congress doesn't find additional money soon for the Highway Trust Fund, which is projected to run out this summer.
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-- Yuxing Zheng