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Hwy 199 plans draw a crowd By Buffy Pollock Updated: Jul 29, 2022 06:18 PM A A Locals turned out Tuesday to give ODOT feedback on ways to make the deadly highway safer An open house Tuesday at the Kerby Boys and Girls Club lured some 40 community members — standing room only — to discuss a corridor plan for the Redwood Highway (Highway 199) from Grants Pass to the California border. Residents of the small towns and burbs along the highway braved the heat to offer up concerns they had about the roadway and shared horror stories of fatalities, near misses and of speeding log trucks, passenger vehicles and RVs. Those in attendance pleaded for increased traffic enforcement by state police and said a widened roadway and traffic calming measures were long overdue. ODOT officials said they hoped to create a safety plan detailing small- and large-scale improvements, ranging from signage and reflector poles to capital improvement projects like turn lanes and widened roadways. The corridor plan and a related community involvement committee are the continuation of an effort begun in 2019, when four fatalities were counted along Highway 199 during June and August that summer. Once planning is complete, the state will have a road map of sorts for improvements, prioritized based on need and available funding, to improve the strip of highway viewed by many as of the state’s deadliest. Head-on crashes and other accidents make headlines each year as people navigate intersections and driveways along the highway or run off the road and crash into trees. ODOT officials said the planning process would be helpful in mitigating some known issues with the road but that improving driver behavior, the culprit of a majority of accidents, would be more difficult. Kerby resident Jerry Work recounted a pair of crashes involving his property — a 1907 Masonic temple building and an adjacent parcel where he parks his motorhome. Work said one driver “passed a logging truck at 4:30 in the morning, driving 80 to 90 miles an hour, hit our garbage can … and launched across our driveway.” The driver then knocked out the water supply from Kerby Water District and went on to “take out a power pole,” damaging Work’s RV. In another incident, Work said a distracted driver crashed through his hedge and drove into a wall of his home. “The frustrating thing is that we rarely, if ever, see state patrol unless they’re coming to, or on their way back from, a wreck,” he said. “Other than Cave Junction, which pays a rent-a-cop bill to have someone there, from here to Grants Pass you have virtually no law enforcement at all.” Work suggested a series of speed bumps. “The most cost effective way to slow traffic down, everywhere in the world, is a speed bump. They’re working all the time, nobody has to maintain them, and nobody will drive over one more than once if they can help it.” Bill Reid, who lives off Highway 46 and drives the Redwood Highway almost daily, reiterated that enforcement was desperately needed. “Those big diesel pushers pulling a car, they pass you like you’re going the other way. That’s a big vehicle, and they’re supposed to have speed limits for towing a vehicle, but they’re just flying along,” he said. “I understand OSP is shorthanded, but if we could get some cops out here with a ticket book that would go further in changing some of the behavior. Nobody thinks they’re going to get stopped out here. … There’s nothing really wrong with that road unless you’re on your cellphone, drinking a beer or putting on makeup.” Donna Tellyer said it wasn’t uncommon to have to pass your destination to avoid being hit by tailgating drivers on the highway. Reid teased, “And she’s lived out here since you had to be careful not to get run over by horses!” Retired law enforcement officer Richard Gemmrig, who has worked on industrial sites and in other capacities involving traffic management, said it was time to widen the 80-year-old highway. “I was a police officer, and the reality is, when seconds count, the cops are 20-30 minutes away. The only way to help the situation is to widen the roadway so that the idiots that wanna go a little faster CAN, and they’re not getting frustrated by you slowing them down. And ODOT needs to stop closing off and shutting down the spaces where we used to be able to pass,” Gemmrig said. “Why screw around wasting all this money and time when you can start putting something in to make our lives easier now? All these meetings and studies. What they’re trying to do is do nothing and pretend they did something.” Gemmrig added, “How many crashed do we see from the Applegate bridge into Grants Pass? Not that many because it’s wide open so you can see what’s going on. Don’t tell me that you can’t take a bulldozer and make that happen, because I’ve done it.” ODOT spokesperson Gary Leaming was pleased with Tuesday’s turnout and hopeful the collection of survey information, public input and collected data would bring some needed improvements. Having a plan in place, he said, would give the region a better chance when funding sources become available. “I thought we had a good cross-section of the community, and it was a good turnout for an open house. Comments for the most part were constructive. Obviously, we’ll take that feedback, and our consultants and planning section will incorporate everything into the finished plan.” Leaming acknowledged community concern with limited patrols, which he said hinge largely on staffing levels of state police, noting, “We have funding available for increased patrols. They don’t have the staff.” OSP officials were unavailable for comment Friday. Cave Junction Mayor Meadow Martell was encouraged by the meeting turnout and efforts by ODOT to come up with ways to improve the roadway. “Like everyone else, I’m hoping for some change. Obviously this is a situation that’s been untenable for a very long time. I think this is a good start and it’s really raising awareness,” Martell said. “A lot of what I’m hearing is that it’s a behavior change that needs to happen, and that is tough.” She added, “It’s true what they say, it’s the only resource in Southern Oregon to get from I-5 to the coast, I don’t know how you change people’s behavior. I guess I’m relying on ODOT to be more of an expert than I am. I’m just grateful they’re focusing on this corridor, because I do think it’s a very serious problem.” View the virtual open house at: https://bit.ly/3nYBUqX Public feedback will be accepted for an additional 30 days from Tuesday’s meeting. Suggestions can be sent, in writing, to: Thomas Guevara, ODOT Senior Transportation Project Manager, 3500 NW Stewart Parkway, Roseburg, 97470; or by email to [email protected] Reach reporter Buffy Pollock at 541-776-8784 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @orwritergal