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Amen to Gerald's comments!! We live outside Sunriver in Central Oregon but I'm a native Vermonter and my wife is from Wisconsin. I've been in Oregon for 30 years and I'm still appalled and mystified at ODOT's (and Deschutes County's) lax attitude toward winter road maintenance. Both Vermont, and all New England states and Wisconsin spend a substantial part of their budget on clearing winter roads. They "plow with the storm" and sand with melting compounds immediately, not haphazardly houtrs or days later. Unlike Hwy 97, roads in Vt. and wisconsin do not have several inches of ice buildup days after a storm, leading to deaths on the highway. Hwy 97 every year has 6-10 deaths from cars sliding across the road. There is no excuse for this.
Your ODOT guest on the radio said that sand and ice melting chemicals are used by ODOT. I've never seen it here.ODOT uses crushed pumice, nearly useless for traction, and I've had 5 broken widshields in 8 years from flying large pieces.
My suggestion: fire all those now in charge at ODOT and Deschutes County and recruit some road masters from New England, New York, or the upper midwest who know how to keep the roads clear! Our foremost road policy should be saving LIVES, as in these other states, not road maintenance money!!
And the "love it or leave it" comments don't deserve rebuttal.

posted 4 years, 6 months ago
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