SALEM -- The Oregon Legislature has revived a controversial project that calls for the construction of a private toll road connecting Interstate 5 to the west end of McMinnville.

The

is intended to relieve congestion along the reliably clogged Oregon 99W corridor along Newberg and Dundee, project backers say. Opponents include local officials and private property owners, who say the project would destroy prime farmland and siphon money and effort from the

.

Both sides are expected to testify at a Monday public hearing in the

on

, which would essentially direct the Oregon Department of Transportation to approve the project. The bill particularly irks opponents because it would allow the department to use eminent domain to condemn property for the project.

, "they got a unilateral 'no, over my dead body,'" and promised to not condemn property against any owner's wishes, said Ben Williams of

.

"There's a 180-degree about-face, and now, instead of going about this the normal way, it's really trying to jump over all the processes and land-use laws to achieve their end," Williams said.

More than 250 people signed

, he said.

Project leaders remain convinced that they can sway local residents. "We realize there's opposition, but as people have talked to us and hear it and learn more, they become excited about it," said Phil Martinson, a West Linn civil engineer. He and Newberg developer Robert Youngman are the project's main backers.

The pair

. They envision perhaps setting up a nonprofit to finance the project privately and estimate using tolls to pay off the debt in 30 years. After that, the state would own the road. They're considering five route options and say they'll select the route that receives the most local support.

"There are traffic jams (along 99W) that last an hour," Martinson said. "Truck traffic is deadlocked, and there's going to be an increase in population in the Portland area of a million people. With that increase, the problems they have will be magnified."

Rep.

, R-Dallas, is one of the bill's sponsors and acknowledges its "out-of-the-box element." He said he would support the project "if it will work."

"It starts a discussion about alternative ways to do public-private financing," Thompson said. "If we can't do it one way, maybe we can do it another way."

As for complaints about ODOT potentially condemning private property for the project, "give me a break," Thompson said. "We do that all the time with urban development and urban renewal projects. C'mon, not new."

More than 100 comments have been submitted in opposition to the bill compared with "very little support from people in the area," said Rep.

, D-Beaverton, who chairs the House committee holding the Monday public hearing.

Read declined to say Friday if he intends to advance the bill out of the committee and said he would listen to testimony from both sides Monday.

.

"We, the

, and I, personally feel strongly about protecting our farm ground," Commissioner Patti Milne said. "I'm not aware of any owner who is interested in selling any property and discontinuing farming."

Milne is also concerned the Coastal Parkway might divert money and attention from the state's long-planned

.

Construction on that project's first phase is scheduled to begin this summer and finish by 2016, said Lou Torres, an ODOT spokesman. It will include an eight-mile two-lane, limited-access roadway, from 99W just south of Dundee to Oregon 219 south of Newberg.

Officials estimate the bypass will divert 40 percent of vehicle traffic and 60 percent of truck traffic off 99W, Torres said. About 25,000 to 30,000 vehicles a day travel on 99W through Newberg.

Money for the $262 million first phase comes mostly from state funds. The second and third phases of the project, which have not been funded yet, are expected to extend the bypass further east and west.

-- Yuxing Zheng