Commission OKs freight route plan.

Byline: COUNTY BEAT By Diane Dietz The Register-Guard

The future network of truck-friendly roads in Lane County is nearly settled: Wide asphalt lanes that are more easily navigable by freight traffic may ultimately run from Eugene to Veneta to the Coast.

But freight-traffic upgrades probably won't disturb main street Junction City or the scenic McKenzie Highway.

At least, that's what the Lane County Board of Commissioners recommended in a 3-2 vote earlier this week. Commissioners Bobby Green, Anna Morrison and Faye Stewart voted yes; Commissioners Bill Dwyer and Pete Sorenson were on the no side.

The board vote was only advisory.

The Oregon Transportation Commission - which meets to consider 30 proposed truck routes statewide on Aug. 17 - has the sole power to designate the highways how it sees fit.

The five-member state commission is appointed by the governor to establish state transportation policy and oversee highway planners and builders.

The state takes the freight-route designations into account when it creates long-term plans for highway repairs and expansion.

And before making the designations, the state seeks local input.

"Having the county be comfortable with it is a positive, but it's not determinative," said Nancy Murphy, a senior transportation planner with the Oregon Department of Transportation.

The designation of certain routes as trucking or freight routes has been a controversial issue in Lane County since October, when highways officials first published their proposed routes, including the McKenzie Highway.

That segment of the plan sparked a petition drive that gathered 500 signatures opposing the McKenzie Highway designation - on the basis that more truck traffic was dangerous and could lead to chemical spills into the river.

State road builders eventually erased that route from their freight map.

Then, Junction City got worried that the designation of Highway 99 - which serves as the small city's main drag - as a freight route would tie the city's hands when it came to development.

The City Council gave the plan a unanimous thumbs down.

That prompted Lane County commissioners to rule out the Junction City leg as a freight route.

Veneta and Florence, on the other hand, welcomed any state attention to the heavy valley-to-Coast traffic. Both councils formally approved the freight truck designation for Highway 126 West.

But it's still a little unclear how - or when - the new designations will have an impact on any kind of driver, be they of the 18- or four-wheel sort.

Veneta City Councilman Thomas Cotter hopes his city's vote will appease the state Department of Transportation and the agency will smile on Veneta with more and better road maintenance. Cooperation is important, he said.

"You need to do that sort of thing," he said.

But Lane County Commissioner Bill Dwyer, who voted against the freight route plan, said giving the Transportation Department the freight route designation is like turning over the county's fate to state highway planners.

"They start using those designations to justify and control lots of things," said Dwyer, who served a decade in the state Legislature and observed the Transportation Department from that vantage.

Besides, he said, there was no ground swell in favor of the freight route designations.

"I haven't seen anybody who said `I want a freight route.' Not one person. I've seen some city councilors and some county commissioners and the freight lobby who want it," he said.

Murphy said the designations won't really change much of anything soon. Later on, the designations can guide designers as they draw up plans for highway reconstruction projects.

"It probably won't be very obvious to anyone - possibly, even, ever," she said. "It's a prospective designation to protect the capacity of the highway to serve trucks in the long run."

FREIGHT ROUTES

Lane County Commissioners approved these routes. Next, state highway officials weigh in.

The Florence-Eugene Highway 126 through the Coast Range.

Belt Line Road between West 11th Avenue, also part of Highway 126, and the Interstate 5 freeway.

Highway 126 from I-5 east through Springfield to the McKenzie Highway.

Highway 101 from Florence to Reedsport.