The main artery through Central Oregon, U.S. Highway 97, serves many purposes. It’s a popular route for long-haul truckers and a tourist thoroughfare. And for those who live in rural communities along the 670-mile highway, it serves as a main street, the way to quickly get from one end of town to the other.
As the region’s population grows so too does the danger on the road. According to a Source Weekly analysis, U.S. 97 saw the highest rate of fatalities to crashes when compared with the other two major highways in Oregon – Interstate 5 and Highway 101. Using the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Crash Data Viewer, we analyzed crash statistics for all three major highways from 2018 to 2022 (the most recent year for which data was available). During those five years, there were 97 fatalities on US 97 out of 3,461 crashes, 121 fatalities on Highway 101 out of 6,034 crashes and 114 fatalities out of 13,592 crashes on I-5.
Despite having fewer crashes overall than the other highways, the likelihood of a crash being fatal on U.S. 97 is much higher, and the most dangerous spots fall between Madras and Bend, according to the most recent ODOT data.
To determine safety along its web of roads that crisscross the state, ODOT conducts an annual review of crashes, using the previous three years of available data. This Safety Priority Index System is how the department identifies the top crash locations on the state highway system and weighs them by severity, providing a number value (1-100 with 100 being worst) and categorizing each site by percentile – again, higher is worse. Each region then reviews the top 90% and 95% sites to dig further into the data and identify crash trends and potential safety improvements.
The most recent SPIS report is last year’s 2022 findings and includes data from 2019 through 2021. Within that report, four areas fell in the top 5% of concerning sites. All of them were on U.S. 97 between Madras and Bend.
In some ways, the fact that U.S. 97 has a higher rate of fatalities when compared to other major highways isn’t a surprise.
“There is a difference in types of crashes on Highway 101 and 97,” said Kacey Davey, public information officer for ODOT. “The types of crashes on rural two-lane highways, without a center median, can often be more severe than other highways. Interstate, or divided highways, have a center barrier and every intersection has an off-ramp or an on-ramp so there are fewer points of contact,” she added.
In Nov. of 2021, Jon Adams filed a lawsuit against ODOT and Jefferson County alleging wrongful death and negligence on behalf of Rankov Adams, his wife. Earlier that year in April, ODOT and Jefferson County officials had hosted a public forum to discuss closing Bear Drive permanently.
According to data analysis from ODOT traffic manager, Mark Barrett, the crash rate on U.S. 97 and the severe and fatal crashes in the corridor are on par with the statewide average for similar highways.
However, as more people settle in Central Oregon and the areas U.S. 97 traverses become less rural, the calls from residents to address these problems and create a more robust highway system grow more urgent.
Making it safer
Going back to the late aughts, the Source Weekly’s editorial team was one voice among many calling for a concrete barrier, known as a Jersey wall, between Bend and Redmond to mitigate the risk of head-on collisions in the corridor. The editorials came after a series of fatal head-on crashes along the Bend to Redmond stretch. In 2022 the first phase of the project was complete, with the final phase expected to start next year. The total cost for the project is expected to be around $11 million. With the barrier in place and the $175 million Bend North Corridor project underway, ODOT projects a significant reduction in crashes and fatalities.
Traveling north along the highway, in Jefferson County, officials and residents have been raising the alarm for years about severe and fatal crashes from the county’s southern border to Madras. In 2020, a particularly high crash year, there were nine fatal crashes between Madras and Bend, with five occurring from June through August.
On Aug. 18, Nadia Rankov Adams was traveling home on U.S. 97 when she was struck and killed by a semi-truck near the Bear Drive intersection. The truck was heading northbound when it hit the car in front of it and veered into oncoming traffic, hitting Rankov Adams’ car.
In Nov. of 2021, Jon Adams filed a lawsuit against ODOT and Jefferson County alleging wrongful death and negligence on behalf of Rankov Adams, his wife. Earlier that year in April, ODOT and Jefferson County officials had hosted a public forum to discuss closing Bear Drive permanently.
“…ODOT and Jefferson County knew or should have known Bear Drive near its intersection with Highway 97 was an unreasonably dangerous intersection for the traveling public and had numerous prior complaints, near misses, accidents and fatalities,” the complaint read.
Adam’s lawsuit was dismissed earlier this year. Bear Drive was permanently closed to U.S. 97 in May of 2022, but nearby problematic intersections persist.
Last November, ODOT initiated a $200,000 safety study of the corridor between Madras and the Crooked River High Bridge to determine problem areas and suggest solutions. Most of the red-flag intersections on ODOT’s recent site investigation report are in, or just south of, Madras. Before its closure, Bear Drive had one of the highest crash rates in the corridor.
“There was a piecemeal approach initially,” said Ken Shonkwiler, project manager for the study. “What needed to be done is a more comprehensive look at the corridor.” The resulting draft study is 74 pages long and highlights key problems along the roadway.
Looking at the last five years of data, there were 187 crashes within the project limits; 13 were severe injury crashes and seven were fatal. This is slightly higher than the expected average for similar corridors. When the department held open houses in Madras earlier this year, Shonkwiler said he heard from many impacted by these crashes in deeply personal ways – they knew the people behind the crash statistics.
“To maintain our existing transportation system, structural revenue reform is needed.” – Kris Strickler
“They’re connected to somebody that they knew in a tragic crash,” he said, adding that his team wants to do everything they can from an engineering perspective, and in a joint effort with law enforcement to reduce the number of severe and fatal crashes.
In drilling down into the data, Shonkwiler said that the most frequent type of crash is rear-end crashes, followed by roadway departures, and a lot of fatal and severe crashes from turning off of side streets. Another major issue identified is the number of entrances and exits from the highway, which ODOT refers to as “accesses.” Along the 18-mile stretch of road in the study there are 150 accesses – far exceeding the recommended safety average of one access per mile. Shonkwiler and his team are spending the summer developing countermeasures and solutions to present to the community in the fall.
Funding Challenges
Last week, the Oregon State Legislative Assembly kicked off talks with ODOT about the next transportation funding package. Kris Strickler, director of ODOT, painted a bleak picture.
“To maintain our existing transportation system, structural revenue reform is needed,” Strickler wrote in presentation materials. ODOT’s funding comes from three revenue streams: gas tax, Oregon DMV fees and weight-mile taxes charged to commercial truckers – all of which Strickler said are insufficient for the department’s needs.
With more fuel-efficient and electric vehicles on the roads, the state’s gas tax income is considerably lower, at over $40 less per year, per vehicle than a decade ago. DMV funding, according to Strickler, is a minor revenue source with only 2% of funds going toward state highway and maintenance operations. And, in January of this year, the Oregon Trucking Association, along with three trucking companies, filed a lawsuit against lawmakers and ODOT alleging that trucks have paid more than their share of road taxes for the last six years. If not addressed before the 2025 legislative session, Jana Jarvis, president and CEO of the association, says overpayment will amount to over $600 million.
Adding to these funding woes is the ever-increasing cost of construction, according to Strickland, putting ODOT in a position where without “significant and reliable funding, Oregonians will feel the impact of service cuts” through deterioration of pavement, increased safety risks, slower responses to major incidents on the roads and more DMV closures and limited hours, among other changes.
“We are having to reduce some of our services that we provide because we just don’t have money to support everything we’ve been doing in the past,” said Davey, public information officer for ODOT.
“We’re looking at really diversifying how money can come into the agency,” she said. “We can index these things to inflation, we can do a road-user charge, look at electric vehicle fees, general fund sources. There’s a lot of other things that we’re looking at as different options on how to bring money into the agency so that we can balance the shortfall.”
Potentially delayed solutions
ODOT’s funding troubles could mean delaying safety work on all highways, and the impact in Central Oregon, where the worst sections of U.S. 97 run through, would continue.
The work identified in the Madras to High Bridge Safety Study, Shonkwiler said, would most likely be funded through ODOT’s Statewide Transportation Improvement Program, but he acknowledges it is a competitive program that requires public support and money in the coffers. With ODOT’s current budgetary shortfalls, projects like these may go unfunded, Davey says.
“It really depends,” she said. “Some projects are federally funded, and the federal government pays for the projects to be done. But, things like regular maintenance and smaller safety projects do come under our budget. Those are the ones that would be more impacted.”
The Legislature’s Joint Committee on Transportation will host more meetings throughout the state from now through September to hear from local officials and the public on the state’s transportation system. They will be in Bend on Thursday., Sept. 12.
Editor’s note: Kacey Davey’s name was misspelled in the print edition. It is Davey not Davidson. We regret the error.
— This story is powered by the Lay It Out Foundation, the nonprofit with a mission of promoting deep reporting and investigative journalism in Central Oregon. Learn more and be part of this important work by visiting layitoutfoundation.org.
This article appears in Source Weekly June 13, 2024.
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This a very important article and I really wanted to thank all those involved for pulling it together and publishing it.
It would be interesting to know the crash rate adjusted for volume of traffic on this highway. In other words what are your chances per trip of getting in an accident.
Parts of I 5 may have more crashes, but have way more volume. I suspect 97 would be the worst in the state.
We can not get the barrier in place in the 5.7 mile stretch north of Bend and south of the airport any too quickly. I counted 40 access point on this stretch of road with people making legal and illegal turns on and off the highway all along this stretch. Usually I will see 1-3 illegal U turns on this stretch.
The speed limit in this section is 65 mpg, meaning the flow of traffic in up to 75 mph in an area people are pulling out of driveways. That is higher than in many sections of I5.
I sometimes need to head over to Eugene. When I do so it always strikes me how easy it is to drive on I-5, compared to 97.