By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews
The Benton County Sheriff’s Office plans weeks of stepped up patrols and at least one warning sign on parts of Highway 20 between Newport and Philomath following a horrific double fatality last week and expectations of very busy Labor Day holiday traffic.
The enhanced patrols in Benton County come after a steep spike in fatalities this year on the busy highway that links Lincoln County to Corvallis and the Willamette Valley.
Oregon State Police in Newport said they would have 1-2 troopers on the highway, as usual, but the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said it was unable to help patrol the highway because of staffing shortages.
The response comes after the deaths of eight people on Highway 20 between Newport and Philomath so far this year. That’s more than double the usual number of yearly fatalities with four months left in 2024.
The response is also after the latest high-profile accident Aug. 20 just east of Blodgett that led to the deaths of Anna Kelley, 31, of Waldport, a second-grade teacher at Crestview Heights School in Waldport, and Shylene Olsen, 26, of Corvallis, a receptionist for the Corvallis Clinic.
“We were already going to have extra patrols out for the (OSU) football game Saturday, but we’re going to increase our presence on Highway 20 to focus on speed and distracted driving,” Benton County Sheriff’s Lt. Toby Bottorff told YachatsNews. The additional patrols will into mid-September, Bottorff said, and supervisors “have also asked our deputies working regular patrol to do extra patrols in the area as well.”
Bottorff said the sheriff’s office also plans to place an electronic radar speed sign in the Blodgett area to let people know how fast they are going with the hope they will slow down.
“We know the speeds are high,” he said.
The spike in fatalities along Highway 20 between Newport and Philomath has not gone unnoticed by state highway officials, police agencies and anyone who drives it. But finding a solution is something else – and often takes years to implement.
The 50 miles of U.S. Highway 20 between Newport and Philomath is a mix of narrow, twisting two-lane pavement, two wide lanes with an occasional third passing lane, and then sometimes four lanes with two going in either direction.
The state spent hundreds of millions the past 20 years to straighten and widen the highway. The result, police say, is that both speed and traffic has increased.
But no stretch of Highway 20 has barriers between east- and westbound lanes. And that means when – for whatever reason – a driver has an issue they often cross over into oncoming traffic. Seven of the eight people who died this year were killed in four head-on collisions, according to state police records.
No more safety corridor
For 19 years – from 1999 to 2022 – the Oregon Department of Transportation designated 10 miles of Highway 20 east of Toledo as a traffic safety corridor because the average yearly fatal and serious injury crash rate was higher than 150 percent of similar roads statewide. But it ended that designation in late 2022 because the rate dropped to 133 percent.
According to ODOT, improvements to Highway 20 since 1999 included:
- The millions spent on the Pioneer Mountain to Eddyville project between milepost 14 and 24 that created 5.5 miles of new road, bypassing a 10-mile section of the original highway built in 1917;
- Repaving and widening 11 miles of highway between Newport and Simpson Creek;
- Grants for increased police traffic enforcement – with a doubling of fines – and a public education program; and
- New or updated highway signs, pavement marking, rumble strips and reflector improvements to help direct and control traffic.
In announcing the change in December 2022, ODOT said typically crash rates do not increase after a safety corridor is decommissioned.
But ODOT officials and a team of agency specialists who compile and study travel and crash statistics from police agencies and insurance companies for every incident statewide have taken notice of the spike in deaths along Highway 20.
“Any time there is a fatal crash it triggers a review of all the factors involved,” said Mindy McCartt, an ODOT spokeswoman for the coast region.
The information goes to traffic engineers in that area, then put into a statewide list of potential problem areas, and then into a larger hopper of ODOT highway and transportation issues. The agency then tries to coordinate possible fixes with local cities and counties, law enforcement, and other state agencies. And, if money is needed, it ends up in the laps of Oregon’s 90 legislators. The agency is already expected to ask the 2025 Legislature for more than $1 billion to catch up on transportation issues.
“All of these jurisdictions and agencies have a finger on this issue, but none of them have a perfect solution or complete control,” McCartt said. “And then, once something is decided, many of the projects are years out.”
The 2021 Legislature did allocate $4.05 million to the East Lincoln County Fire & Rescue district to build a fire station and communication center near the highway in Eddyville to improve response to accidents and other emergencies.
One driver’s experience
Hundreds of people have had the same experience as Chantelle Estess of Newport just a week ago.
Estess was east of Toledo heading back to Newport at 5:39 p.m. Friday with her dogs in the back of her Volkswagen and a friend riding shotgun. It was raining and the two-lane section of Highway 20 was marked with a double yellow line indicating it was a no passing zone.
“I was going 60,” she told YachatsNews.
Suddenly a truck passed her and two other cars on a curve. Estess’ passenger used a cell phone to record the incident and zoom in on the truck’s Washington license plate. Estess later called Oregon State Police dispatch to report the incident and offer up the video.
“They told me ‘No’ they couldn’t help.”
So Estess posted her video and experience to a Newport-area Facebook page. Her experience drew more than 190 comments and more than 15,000 views of the video.
“I don’t play the lottery,” she said. “But it seems like I have to play the lottery when I drive Highway 20.”
Estess caught up with the truck a few miles later. The driver was stuck in a long line of vehicles behind a westbound RV.
What police say
Although the Benton County Sheriff has taken a more proactive stance to patrols of Highway 20 highway in that county, Oregon State Police has the first responsibility for coverage on the west half of the route.
Its Newport-based troopers are tasked with covering 177 miles of state highways in Lincoln County but at any given time of the week there are just 1-2 of them on patrol, said Newport station commander Lt. Brian Tucker.
When they are on the highways, Tucker said troopers are looking for excessive speed, occupants not wearing seatbelts or distracted drivers. In addition to whatever a driver has going on inside their vehicle – passengers, food, cell phones and such — Highway 20 also offers lots of other distractions such as the many driveways that directly enter the road and the Coast Range’s views and hills.
Bottoroff said the Benton County Sheriff’s Office is staffed well enough that it can use money from ODOT grants to pay overtime for deputies to work on problems such as Highway 20 traffic. He specifically wants deputies to ticket drivers exceeding 70 mph.
“Speeds have increased in wider section of the road,” he said. “But then if you cross out of your lane, it’s a recipe for disaster.”
The numbers
The Oregon Department of Transportation keeps meticulous data on what happens on the state’s highways. In addition to analyzing every accident – more than 60,000 a year statewide – it has traffic counters on all major highways.
A permanent Highway 20 counter is five miles west of Blodgett. It shows:
- Highway travel at that point increased 60 percent in the past 23 years – from an average of 4,500 a day in 2000 to 7,200 in 2023;
- A more recent window shows a 30 percent increase in the past nine years – from an average of 5,500 a day in 2015 to that 7,200 in 2023;
- Traffic varies widely depending on the month and day. Counts so far this year near Blodgett show an average of 3,875 vehicles on a Sunday in January ballooning to more than 10,000 on an average Saturday this July; and
- Average daily traffic counts on Highway 20 between the cities of Newport and Toledo can be nearly double that of the counts in the rural stretch near Blodgett.
In summary, traffic on Highway 20 in the Blodgett area Mondays through Thursdays ranges from 5,500 to 7,500 vehicles per day most of the year but during the summer it can jump to 9,000 to 10,000 a day Fridays through Sundays. The peak travel days tend to be Friday through Sunday from late June through mid-September, based on 2023 and partial 2024 data.
More fatalities
John Bonnett’s job at ODOT is to oversee the agency’s analysis of every reported vehicle crash in the state – from fatals to fender benders to roadside property damage. After decades of declining deaths, he and other officials are seeing a return to a near-record high number of fatalities to more than 600 a year.
In 2010, Oregon had fewer than 400 traffic-related deaths. That number has been more than 600 since 2022.
Police and traffic safety experts say a lot of factors may be contributing to the greater number of fatalities but focus the main reasons on faster speeds, more vehicles that are built higher up from the ground, and distracted drivers.
A new Oregon Health Authority data dashboard also breaks down transportation deaths and injuries by county. While a four-year count of traffic deaths and injuries mostly reflects population numbers — urban areas like the Portland, Salem and Eugene areas have more traffic deaths than their rural counterparts — many rural areas actually had a higher death rate than urban Oregon, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Bonnett said the number of fatals “is alarming.”
“But we don’t know why,” he said. “What’s going on and why are we seeing this. Is it an anomaly? We just don’t know.”
But Bonnett, Tucker and Bottoroff all believe higher speeds and distracted drivers are the leading causes of the increase in highway deaths.
“Speed is always an issue,” Tucker said. “People want to get there fast and they’re not patient enough. Watch your speed and pay attention.”
Highway 20’s victims
Aug. 20, 2024: Anna Kelley, 31, of Waldport, was killed when her vehicle was struck nearly head-on two miles east of Blodgett by a car driven by Shylene Olsen, 26, of Corvallis, who also died.
July 1, 2024: Scott T. Novotny, 34, of Newport and Jose M. Zapata, 29, of Portland died after Zapata was westbound and attempted a pass 10 miles east of Eddyville and struck Novotny’s eastbound car.
May 11, 2024: Elizabeth L. O’Neill, 52, of Tidewater died when her eastbound Ford Fusion was struck by a westbound Subaru driven by Jessmyn R. Allen, 46, of Umatilla that crossed the centerline four miles west of Blodgett. A passenger in Allen’s vehicle was also killed.
April 26, 2024: Christopher M. Robeson, 62, of Siletz was killed when his small pickup was struck head-on by a car that crossed into his lane of Highway 20 a little more than a mile east of Newport.
Jan. 31, 2024: Michael R. Fetch, 61, of Hubbard was killed near Blodgett when he pulled his truck out in front of an unloaded log truck.
Sept. 5, 2023: James R. Lebo, 70, of Wrangell, Alaska was killed when he swerved into oncoming traffic on Highway 20 four miles east of Newport and collided with a pickup truck driven by Trevor L. Hutchison, 49, of Toledo.
April 17, 2023: David E.B. Weaverling, 70, of Waldport died when his eastbound Toyota RAV4 crossed the centerline three miles east of Newport and crashed head-on into a westbound Toyota Tacoma.
April 30, 2022: Devon Negathon, 52, of Newport was killed after a head-on crash on Highway 20 about five miles east of Eddyville. Police said Negathon’s truck crossed over the center line near Little Elk Creek and collided head on with a Toyota Tacoma driven by Curtis Preston, 53, of Toledo.
May 22, 2022: David Damon, 67, of Shady Cove, Ore. died after crashing his empty wood chip into trees just east of Toledo on Highway 20.
There were three fatal crashes in 2017, none in 2018, three in 2019, five in 2020 and three in 2021, according to ODOT.
- Quinton Smith is the editor of YachatsNews.com and can be reached at YachatsNews@gmail.com
Appreciate this great article giving us a comprehensive view of how dangerous this highway is which all of us coastal residents already knew. I just pray that ODOT will do the right thing and re-register this highway (permanently) as a Safety Corridor – doubling traffic fines, adding rumble strips or other median barriers, increasing officer patrols, etc.
I try to pull over and let people pass if they appear to be in a hurry
We do too. My daughter drives me to doctor appointments in Corvallis regularly and some days it’s terrifying. ODOT shouldn’t keep widening and straightening roads if they don’t want people to drive faster, in my opinion. It might be helpful to have some signs reminding people to slow down and be patient.
If only that would make a difference if a driver passing unsafely was headed in the opposite direction.
I’ve too often had drivers who’ve been close to tailgating me (driving west) refuse to pass when we’re descending from Cline Hill summit, road is straight for a long stretch, there’s great visibility going down hill unless it’s pouring rain & there’s been times when there’s very little to no traffic going east –which means there’s a passing lane that can be used by the driver who seems to want so much to get past me.
Some drivers just won’t pass, I don’t know why. It’s as if I have to pull off the road (& there’s not really a safe place on that stretch to do so) so they don’t have pull out into that lane to pass. A few times I’ve slowed to 40 mph from 60, which sometimes persuades the other driver to pass.
It was pretty easy to predict that if the state straightened & widened parts of 20, more people would speed. Particularly people who live i states w/higher speed limits on interstate & state or rural highways, ID, AZ et al.
Great job on an important issue affecting many of your readers. That’s an impressive amount of reporting work. In retrospect, it may have been a mistake for ODOT to yield to local pressure and straighten the highway to encourage more traffic and higher speeds.
My impression is it was done primarily to make it easier for large commercial trucks to use 20 to get to the coast and, I suppose, for RVs that are as large/long as a NYC transit bus. Would’ve been better to work with P & W rail (or its owner) to improve the rail/track system from Albany to Toledo so that more shipping could be done by rail. Put a truck depot/transfer station in Toledo (jobs) to deliver/ship anything that needs to go on 101 in either direction.
Too many drivers go 70 or more on that road anymore, so I avoid it. I have also noticed a very unsafe habit of some drivers that come over the center line on a curve and towards me. Blasting the horn and using the brights helps but it is unnerving and I’ve noticed an uptick of this on all the roads I’ve driven this summer, 126, 101, 34. I assume they are going too fast to negotiate the curve, or are in an altered state or both.
In his recent newsletter, Rep Gomberg referenced this enlightening article about traffic safety. I appreciate him addressing the topic, but was disappointed to see the word “car accident” repeatedly used in that newsletter, instead of “crash.” It’s true that attorneys, insurance providers, freeway expansionists and even ODOT’s crash report use the word “accident.” It’s worth asking: why? Is it to protect an individual user’s ego or wallet, vs addressing the shared system’s safety imbalances and failures? As OSHA says about workplace safety incidents, “accident” implies a crash is “nobody’s fault” and is unforeseeable or unpreventable. But if someone ate a dozen Krispy Kremes daily for breakfast, no one would call their weight gain “accidental,” even if unintended or unwanted. Not even if legislators had only funded sugary donut shops, ignoring pleas for health food, so that no one could access healthier, safer options.
The habit of funding roads to add car capacity, while ignoring pleas of people walking to the bus or cycling (or of the careful, kind drivers who get tailgated) is a habit that leads to foreseeable system safety problems. That’s not an accident. With intention, legislators voted to use general tax fund dollars (not normally for roads) to add car capacity to I-5 in Portland. What if they deprioritized adding car capacity and first funded packages that add highway sidewalks, crossings, buses & bikeways in all districts, which improves safety and access for all road users? Bonus: think of the jobs. It’s the kind thing to do, and a major aspect of road safety is traveling with kindness to others sharing the road.