{"id":10697,"date":"2018-10-26T13:11:06","date_gmt":"2018-10-26T20:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/?p=10697"},"modified":"2019-10-19T10:48:52","modified_gmt":"2019-10-19T17:48:52","slug":"floyd-prozanski-scott-rohter-oregons-mckenzie-highway-and-the-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/floyd-prozanski-scott-rohter-oregons-mckenzie-highway-and-the-truth\/","title":{"rendered":"Floyd Prozanski, Scott Rohter, Oregon’s McKenzie Highway and the Truth"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Floyd Prozanski, Scott Rohter,\u00a0the McKenzie Hwy and the Truth<\/strong><\/h1>\n

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By Scott Rohter, Candidate for State Senator<\/p>\n

October 26th, 2018<\/p>\n

At a recent Eugene City Club debate\u00a0my opponent Floyd Prozanski accused me of\u00a0several things including basing my campaign for State Senator largely on the fact that there are no rumble strips or fog line reflectors\u00a0on the entire length of the McKenzie Highway. He went on to say that since ODOT will be correcting that deficiency in the Fall of 2019 there is really no reason for me to go forward with my campaign. Unfortunately like most politicians\u00a0our current\u00a0State Senator\u00a0struggles with the truth so some clarification is in order.<\/p>\n

Since Floyd Prozanski was first elected to the Oregon Legislature there have been over 9,000 accidents, 7,000 injuries and at least 200 deaths on the McKenzie Highway.\u00a0\u00a0One of the main reasons I am running against him is to\u00a0end the\u00a0carnage\u00a0that occurs along this highway, by providing motorists with the basic safety features found along most major highways, but that is not the ONLY reason I am running for office. Floyd and I disagree on many other issues,\u00a0however the most important job of any public official is, and it\u00a0should be public safety.<\/p>\n

Mr. Prozanski\u00a0claims that ODOT is going to\u00a0begin a project next year that will include\u00a0installing fog line reflectors and rumble strips along the McKenzie Highway. If that is true then its about time, but you should ask yourself why has it taken so long.. Why\u00a0nearly two decades into the 21st century are residents of Lane County still driving\u00a0on a major highway that was built to the safety standards of the 1900’s?\u00a0 There are no overhead lights.There are no fog line reflectors embedded in the asphalt to illuminate the edges of the road\u00a0at night, and there are no rumble strips to alert motorists when they are crossing the yellow lines either in the center of the road or along the edges of the roadway. Why\u00a0is it necessary for\u00a0200 people\u00a0to die before the government does the right thing?\u00a0Maybe you should ask Mr. Prozanski who is on the Legislative Task Force\u00a0for Public Safety.<\/p>\n

Before I started my campaign I\u00a0spoke with ODOT officials and they told me there were actually no plans to put fog line reflectors and rumble strips along the McKenzie Hwy.\u00a0 They told me that the highway\u00a0was already safe and “people\u00a0merely needed to drive the conditions of the road”…. <\/em><\/p>\n

If my campaign for safer highways has prompted ODOT to re-examine its position vis a vis n the McKenzie Highway\u00a0then\u00a0all I can say is good, but it is no thanks to Floyd Prozanski and its about time. (UPDATE :\u00a0No safety upgrades were infact\u00a0done\u00a0along the McKenzie Hwy in 2019.)<\/p>\n

Here is the\u00a0truth..\u00a0 Floyd Prozanski has been\u00a0unconcerned about this\u00a0major public safety issue for over two decades while over 200 people have lost their lives. That is why he should not be rewarded with another four years in Salem as our\u00a0State Senator.<\/p>\n

Furthermore if those upgrades are\u00a0going to get done the way they should be done and not the way they\u00a0were done on Highway 58 or the way they are being done right now\u00a0along Highway 126 west of Eugene it will NOT be because Senator Prozanski is such a\u00a0strong advocate for highway safety. His\u00a0 legislative career in Salem is\u00a0a testimony to that. These\u00a0much needed\u00a0improvements will only get done the way they should be done if you elect me to be your next State Senator. I have to drive this highway every night, and I will make sure that the safety upgrades get done the way they should be done.<\/p>\n

My efforts to improve safety along the highway have\u00a0widespread support throughout the community. My signs are popping up on private property all along the highway calling for a safer improvements. I am sure this hasn\u2019t escaped the attention of\u00a0 ODOT\u00a0and Senator Prozanski. Being the professional politician he is Floyd has\u00a0resorted to\u00a0a page right out of the national Democratic playbook. He\u00a0has begun\u00a0resorting to personal attacks upon me, but the question still remains\u2026 Why has Senator Prozanski done nothing about the horrendous safety record of the McKenzie Highway during the entire\u00a023 years\u00a0\u00a0he has been in the Oregon Legislature?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Let me offer a plausible explanation… Senator Prozanski is an avid bicyclist. He would like to see the entire McKenzie Highway, turned into a bikeway, not just the section north and east of McKenzie Bridge as it is right now. Since there is only about 12 to 15 inches of asphalt on the other side of the fog lines, and rumble strips\u00a0would take up most of that space\u00a0making it virtually impossible for a bicycle to travel, Senator Prozanski\u00a0has been opposed to putting rumble strips along the edges of the roadway. That explains why they are not there. It also explains why he will not push for them to be installed in the future. The only way\u00a0 rumble strips will be cut into the edges of this highway is if I am electedto be your next State Senator. The McKenzie Highway by default has been purposed to be everything to everybody…\u00a0 It is a Scenic Highway, a National Network Highway, and a Bikeway all in one and all on the cheap!<\/p>\n

Recently\u00a0ODOT has been working on the Florence to Eugene section of Highway 126. Rumble strips have been installed along the road, but unfortunately they end about three miles\u00a0west of Veneta\u2026\u00a0 There are no rumble strips beyond that point\u00a0and there are no rumble strips on the highway as it crosses Fern Ridge Reservoir\u00a0so as not to disturb the falcons\u2019 at night.\u00a0\u00a0In addition the rumble strips that were installed\u00a0have\u00a0been modified so as to be softer and quieter in order to be considerate of\u00a0people who live along the highway\u2026 Never mind the driver who is\u00a0fast asleep at the wheel\u2026 If he doesn\u2019t hear the rumble strips that\u2019s his tough luck\u2026<\/p>\n

Who makes these\u00a0decisions? You\u00a0don’t have to look any further than Floyd Prozanski… and when the first\u00a0tanker truck\u00a0carrying 10,000 gallons of gasoline, diesel fuel,\u00a0toxic chemicals, or hazardous waste crashes and winds up in the McKenzie River… \u00a0then it will be too late. The\u00a0drinking water for 200,000 people will be seriously impacted for a long time…. a lot longer than\u00a0EWEB’s \u00a0backup well water supply can\u00a0 realistically be expected to last.\u00a0 What are you going to do then? \u00a0When it happens you can lay\u00a0the blame right on\u00a0Senator Prozanski’s Senate doorstep, and on Lee Beyer’s as well. Both of these men have been in positions of power and authority in the Oregon State Legislature for most of the last two decades. They are responsible for this.<\/p>\n

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There have been over 9,000 accidents, 7,000 injuries and at least 200 deaths on the McKenzie Highway since Floyd Prozanski was elected to the Oregon Legislature in 1991. That is a fact. One of the main reasons I am running for office is to stop the carnage along this road, and to provide motorists with the safety they deserve on any Oregon State Highway, but it is not the ONLY reason I am running for office. Floyd and I disagree on many other issues, but the most important job of any public official is and it should be public safety…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,6],"tags":[878,863,864,879,364],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10697"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10697"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10852,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10697\/revisions\/10852"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}