I have noted a number of articles where snow maintenance for Highway 204 and Highway 3 (Tollgate and Rattlesnake grades) will be reduced this winter due to budget cuts.

On the map, the highways look like they go nowhere, but they are the ground alternate routes for Lifeflight when we are weathered in, and the main routes many of us use every day of the week to get advanced treatments in Walla Walla and Spokane.

I wonder if our county commissioners would be willing to chat with the Oregon Department of Transportation folks about getting additional attention to those routes, given the medical and economic impact?

Kathy Bowman

Joseph