Highway 97 is a death trap, say some Madras-area residents
A recent speed limit boost has many Jefferson County drivers concerned. In February, legislation raised the speed limit from 55 to 65 mph on areas of Highway 97. Now, many community members are turning to social media to voice their concerns.
After a recent accident that killed a Madras mother and her three young sons, more residents are questioning the safety of Highway 97.
“Unfortunately, what it seems to take is more lives, but how many lives do we have to give before they hear us?” Madras resident Karen Koolhaas said Wednesday.
Residents are urging changes to make things safer on their daily drive.
Earlier this year, traffic safety advocate Lynette Gray of Madras started a Facebook page, Friends of Highway 97 and has been working with the state Department of Transportation to make the stretch of 97 between Madras and Terrebonne more safe.
Like many, Gray is against the recent speed limit increase and would like to see a 20-mile safety corridor enacted. She also wants to see turn lanes and better signage added.
On stretches of highways with higher than average numbers of fatal or injury crashes, safety corridors, usually requested by a lawmaker, can lead to more frequent enforcement, low-cost engineering improvements and education efforts, ODOT says.
“We do not want this to be 65 mph between here and Terrebonne,” Gray said. “There are 90 different places on the stretch where people must stop to turn.”
Koolhaas added, “People are not aware that there are people turning on this highway, and when the summer comes, we’re terrified what tourists are going to do (to) the local people.”
Gray noted an unsafe turn is what led to the recent crash, and said when people get hit by a car going 65 mph, it’s likely they will die.
Koolhaus lives along Highway 97 in Madras and said the number of accidents she’s seen is horrific.
“We’ve had people killed in that driveway and in the house driveway,” she said. “We’ve had truck rollovers and deaths. I can’t even tell you how many we’ve seen.”
Misty Cox has started an online petition to create the safety corridor from Madras to Terrebonne. The petition already has more than 6,000 signatures.
Jefferson County Administrator Jeff Rasmussen said county commissioners have scheduled a work session with ODOT to discuss highway safety issues on Wednesday, June 8 at 3:30 p.m. at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, Mackey-Conroy Building, 430 SW Fairgrounds Road in Madras.
To see the online petition, visithttp://www.thepetitionsite.com/104/998/089/demand-that-97-changes-before-more-lives-are-lost/?taf_id=25390117&cid=fb_na#
Here’s a link to the Facebook page Friends of Highway 97, visithttps://www.facebook.com/groups/977285015695153/?fref=nf
