Bill curbing rural freight routes advances.

Byline: David Steves The Register-Guard

SALEM - McKenzie area and Oregon Coast residents wouldn't have to worry about their highways turning into high-speed routes for freight truck convoys under a bill that's headed to the Senate floor.

Senate Bill 566, unanimously approved by the Senate Transportation Committee on Monday, would prohibit the state from designating Highway 126 as a freight route from the eastern city limits of Springfield to its intersection with Highway 20 near Santiam Pass. The bill imposes a similar ban on such a designation for the coastal route, Highway 101 between Florence and its intersection with Highway 26 north of Cannon Beach.

The bill would not ban trucks from using these routes. However, it would make them low priorities when it comes to the distribution of state dollars for highway modernization projects, such as straightening roadways or adding lanes.

That's just fine with local activists such as Monica LaRosa, who called on their local legislators to push for the changes in SB 566 to protect the McKenzie Highway.

"It's a country road. It's a country highway. People around here are concerned about keeping it what it is and preserving the scenic quality and the recreation quality," said LaRosa, who lives on the highway near Leaburg. She started a petition drive last year to express citizen opposition to the Oregon Transportation Commission's proposed designation of the McKenzie Highway as a freight route. That effort led to the formation of the group Scenic McKenzie Association for State Highway, or SMASH.

John Jackley, executive officer with the Oregon Highway Division, said that while the lack of freight-route status would prevent stretches of highways 126 and 101 from receiving funds for modernization projects, that did not mean the state would neglect them.

"The important thing is, it would not affect safety, signage, or maintenance," he said, explaining that such needs would continue to be be eligible for state highway funds.

Earlier this session, the Oregon Trucking Associations had raised concerns about passing laws to determine which sections of highway would be considered freight routes. But its director, Bob Russell, said he did not oppose SB 566 in its current form because the two affected stretches of Oregon highway were unlikely to become major trucking thoroughfares.

"Trucks are going to go where the shipments are moving," he said.

Sen. Bill Morrisette, D-Springfield, said he had pushed for SB 566 after hearing McKenzie Highway area residents' concerns about increasing truck traffic and the possibility that making the route safer for freight haulers could require the construction of frontage roads and the elimination of residents' driveways.

Sen. Floyd Prozanski, a Democrat whose district includes areas of south Eugene as well as rural portions of east Lane County, said he heard from constituents concerned with the effects of increased truck traffic on McKenzie Highway, and also from Eugene residents whose drinking water comes from the McKenzie River - which runs right next to the roadway.

"By having a hazardous (truck) spill there, you could just devastate the drinking water supply for the whole city of Eugene," he said.