Deschutes County joins tri-county push for Highway 97 safety funding and scoping
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Summary
The board approved a coordinated letter with Klamath and Jefferson counties seeking state and federal investments to improve safety on Highway 97 and asked staff to produce a formatted, logoed advocacy letter and to pursue scoping/study dollars and short-term safety steps.
Deschutes County commissioners voted Feb. 4 to join a tri-county advocacy effort urging state and federal investment in safety improvements along Highway 97, a corridor county officials described as having persistent safety and freight-traffic challenges.
Commissioner Chang introduced a draft letter developed with counterparts in Klamath and Jefferson counties and asked the board to authorize staff to finalize layout, add county logos and signature lines, and circulate the document to legislative offices. "This letter represents the perspectives of at least three county commissions about what we need to make Highway 97 safer," Chang said.
ODOT staff advised the board that the corridor's needs range from immediate enforcement and safety strategies to major capital projects requiring scoping and design. "What is distilled here is what we've all been hearing for lots of years," ODOT staff said, recommending the board seek study and scoping funds as near-term steps and identify specific projects that match federal grant categories; some federal programs have caps and different eligibility rules.
Commissioners asked staff to identify priority projects and dollar orders of magnitude they could present to legislators and to pursue opportunities such as congressionally directed spending requests and state short-session allocations for scoping. The board approved the letter and authorized staff to coordinate graphics and signature pages for tri-county adoption.
What happens next: staff will format the letter with logos, circulate it to partner counties for sign-on, and prepare a one-page leave-behind summarizing priority scoping projects and potential funding streams for legislators and congressional staff.