The boss of the Oregon Department of Transportation will step down at year’s end, the latest shakeup for an agency under scrutiny for its management of increasingly expensive mega projects and a funding pinch that placed hundreds of jobs at risk.

Director Kris Strickler announced his plans on Wednesday, capping off five years of leadership that saw a global pandemic and the ensuing financial problems that pushed ODOT into what department leaders portrayed as a financial crisis.

“The employees of ODOT are dedicated to improving the lives of Oregonians and because of that commitment,” Strickler said in a statement, “I know ODOT will continue to thrive.”

After extensive political wrangling, lawmakers ultimately passed a road funding bill with new taxes and fees meant to buoy ODOT and stave off layoffs. Gov. Tina Kotek signed the bill into law this week, but it now faces yet another obstacle as Republicans seek to gather enough signatures to refer it to voters.

Strickler said his decision to leave “did not come easily to me, but with funding for the maintenance and operations of our transportation system secured, now is the time for new leadership to lead ODOT’s next chapter.”

State officials praised Strickler for his tenure this week, noting that he helped spearhead a variety of projects that sought to make Oregon a better place to drive, walk, bike and take public transit. Kotek called him a “dedicated leader who has not shied away from embracing challenges.”

“I’m grateful for his years of service and his unrelenting focus on making sure Oregonians can keep moving, safely, sustainably, and without delay,” said Kotek, who appointed Oregon Parks and Recreation leader Lisa Sumption to serve in the interim.

Strickler’s departure comes as the future of one of the state’s most ambitious transportation projects remains unclear. State transportation leaders are weighing whether to continue funneling money into a plan to widen Interstate 5 through Portland’s Rose Quarter.

In a recent letter to the Oregon Transportation Commission, Strickler provided multiple options for how to use the limited money available to the project. Among them: put the money toward other ODOT operations throughout the state, potentially the Abernethy Bridge on Interstate 205, which has also seen costs spike from $250 million to $815 million.

“Progress on the remainder of the Rose Quarter would await future funding opportunities, and the cost of the project would grow with each year,” the letter said.

Oregon has spent at least $143 million on planning and engineering work before shovels hit the dirt on the project’s initial phase. But in July, the federal government pulled a critical grant for the project, pushing it into a $1.5 million financial hole that lawmakers are unsure how to fill.

“My personal opinion is it’s a great development project,” said Commissioner Lee Beyer, who chaired the Legislature’s transportation committee when lawmakers passed a bill in 2017 to kickstart the Rose Quarter and other projects. “I don’t know where we’re going to get the money to do it.”

The Rose Quarter began as a push to widen the freeway through what many see as one of the nation’s worst bottlenecks. Over time, it evolved into a broader effort to cap the freeways to support the construction of buildings on top of it, part of a push to restore a historically Black community that was decimated when ODOT built I-5 through it decades ago.

The state transportation commission was scheduled to discuss its options at a meeting on Thursday, but that was postponed until December. State officials say it will be up to the Legislature to decide the Rose Quarter’s future.

Lawmakers plan to focus on how they’ll adjust state funding for the federal cuts made by the Trump administration this year. That could make funding large transportation projects like the Rose Quarter even harder.

Strickler was also the project lead for the Columbia River Crossing, the failed attempt to build a new bridge on I-5 between Vancouver and Portland. That project ultimately died in 2014, and a different project to build a new span is also facing budget problems.

His resignation comes amid a slew of other departures at ODOT, including two leaders of the Rose Quarter project this year alone, as reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Beyer commended Strickler for his work, saying, “I’ve worked with five different directors over my time. He’s without a doubt one of the best I’ve ever worked with.”

But he acknowledged that Strickler faced scrutiny in his final year on the job. “They needed somebody to beat on, and they beat on him.”

He blamed the agency’s turnover on “a whole lot of morale problems, I think across the board.”

“It’s a real concern. Are we losing the people that we need to maintain the system?” said Beyer, who added: “The people who have put their heart and soul into maintaining Oregon’s transportation system feel unappreciated.”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/11/13/oregon-transportation-odot-director-steps-down/