Oregon Trucking Association

4 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 8 The OTA’s annual convention is an example of this. A longtime participant is the Oregon Department of Transportation. At these events, attendees can meet key players and leaders in the trucking industry. It’s just a way, says Jarvis, whereby members may better themselves. Then there are workers’ compensation and the industry’s strictly enforced drug- testing requirements. OTA members get discounted rates for such things. Banding together to advocate for each other and their fellow truckers at the local, state, and federal levels is of paramount importance, says Jarvis. Thus an organization such as the OTA just makes good business sense. Tax issues, environmental issues, labor issues, infrastructural issues, and issues with the Department of Transportation all fall under the purview of the OTA. Infrastructure Jarvis notes that good trucking relies upon good roads. Portland, Oregon’s largest city, with a population greater than 600,000, has long been infamous for its bad roads. Only a few years ago, Portland was ranked ninth in the nation amongst America’s worst roads. Jarvis cites problems with Interstate-Five, a major route running north to south, stretching from Canada to Mexico. One section of the I-Five has only two lanes, and this of course leads to major road congestion. However, the OTA, she reveals, successfully lobbied the Oregon State Legislature to do something about these road problems. Yet correcting problems is not without problems in and of itself, as Jarvis notes, and timetables for making needed projects come to fruition can be stretched out like taffy. The road improvements became a hot- button topic: very politically charged and very expensive, requiring a 53-percent tax increase to make them a reality. Still, to this date, it hasn’t happened, as Jarvis reveals. “By and large,” she informs, “those projects have yet to be built.” The OTA isn’t giving up. Jarvis says the organization is doing all it can to improve