It’s official: There will be no tolling on I-5 or I-205 for at least the next couple of years.

Governor Kotek has directed the Oregon Department of Transportation to put a stop to those plans until 2026.

At one point, it was considered inevitable. We were told it was a foregone conclusion.

But those of us who were against it mobilized to express our opposition. We put pressure on elected officials at the local, state and federal levels to join us in taking a stand.

 We fought back. And I can proudly say that we’ve won.

Make no mistake—some of these officials had every intention of forcing this on us all, whether we wanted it or not.

What they weren’t expecting was the backlash that followed.

Every chance we got, we stood up and said no. We told them about how this would hurt working families during already difficult economic times. We told them there would be environmental impacts that they weren’t even considering. We took it one step further and voted politicians who supported tolling out of office.

The pressure became so great that they actually listened this time.

But just because plans for tolling have temporarily been paused doesn’t mean they’re going away forever. We can all fully expect this issue to return.

As the chair of the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners, I remain committed to fighting against any tolling schemes. And when this comes up in a couple of years, I will continue to put our citizens first and make sure your voices are heard loudly and clearly.

It worked this time and it will work again.