By Julia Shumway/Oregon Capital Chronicle
Oregon will receive nearly $43 million from the federal government to repair roads damaged by recent natural disasters, the state’s two U.S. senators announced Monday.
The influx of federal funding comes as the state struggles to fill transportation funding gaps. The Oregon Department of Transportation estimated it will face a deficit of more than $350 million in the 2025-27 budget if lawmakers don’t pass a substantial funding package in the upcoming legislative session.
The new federal money, part of more than $800 million allocated nationwide, will reimburse state and federal agencies for repairing damage caused by winter storms, atmospheric rivers and thunderstorms since 2019. Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, both Democrats, said they’ll continue working to bring back money when natural disasters strike.
“Oregonians in every corner of the state have faced dangerous storms in recent years, which have taken a heavy toll on the infrastructure they need to move safely,” Merkley said. “State and federal agencies went to work to repair and rebuild the roads and other important infrastructure that powers our communities, and these investments will help cover the cost of their essential efforts.”
Oregon’s award was one of the largest in the country, behind California, Puerto Rico, Florida, Vermont and Tennessee. California’s $183 million will go toward addressing damage caused by fires, flooding, tropical storms and earthquakes. Florida and Puerto Rico each received $110 million for damage caused by hurricanes, while Vermont received $55 million and Tennessee $46 million for severe storms and landslides.
“From northeast Oregon to southwest Oregon and many points in between, natural disasters have slammed communities throughout our state,” Wyden said. “This federal aid will help Oregon cities and counties cover the expenses they incurred recovering from severe storms, floods and more.”
About half of the new federal money, more than $21.3 million, was for damage from severe winter storms in December 2022. Heavy rain caused landslides, including one that threatened to block Interstate 84 near Ontario and one that wiped out a portion of U.S. Highway 101 for several days in January 2023.
Another $11.4 million was for Oregon Department of Transportation repairs to signs and roads damaged by a storm this January that blanketed much of the state in ice and led to flooding and landslides in southern Oregon.
ODOT will also receive three smaller grants: almost $738,000 for responding to June 2023 thunderstorms in Harney and Malheur counties that closed U.S. 20 for five days, $631,000 for washouts west of the Cascades caused by atmospheric rivers in December 2023 and $80,000 for storms in May and June 2022 that damaged Interstate 84, U.S. 26 and Oregon 204 in central and eastern Oregon.
The U.S. Forest Service will receive about $5.8 million as reimbursement for roads and culverts damaged by a six-day atmospheric river in and around the Umatilla National Forest in February 2020 and almost $641,000 for its response to a December 2022 atmospheric river in southwest Oregon. It’s also getting $600,000 for repairing forest service roads and culverts damaged by late winter storms in southern Oregon in 2019.
About $1.4 million is for the Bureau of Land Management’s work restoring roads and culverts damaged in southwest Oregon in December 2023, when warm temperatures and heavy rain paired with melted snow to wash out roads and down trees.
This story first appeared in the Oregon Capital Chronicle.
