New road signs aim to improve winter safety

BAKER CITY – (Release from Wallowa-Whitman National Forest) Motorists get stuck in the mountains every winter when they attempt to drive wheeled vehicles over snow-covered roads. This can result in serious safety situations involving long hikes for help, cold nights in stranded vehicles, and/or calls for search & rescue assistance.

To enhance public safety and reduce the pressure on local search & rescue teams, roads managers with the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest (WWNF) have installed additional warning signs at priority roads and snowmobile routes. The goal is to deter unsafe entry by wheeled vehicles while those roads and routes are impassable due to snow cover.

“The driving factor pushing us towards installing extra signage at these locations has been the recent uptick with search & rescues involving Wallowa, Union, Grant, and Baker Counties,” said Dan Story, roads manager for the south zone of the WWNF.

Story continues to explain that the increase in search & rescue calls can be partially attributed to increased winter travel through the mountains, failures of GPS directions to account for winter conditions, improvements in snowmobile grooming technology (making snowmobile routes look passible when before they would have been buried under several feet of snow), more miles of groomed routes that connect with State highways, and, in many cases, a lack of preparation for backcountry winter travel.

The new signs will provide valuable and potentially life-saving information to motorists before they attempt to drive wheeled vehicles over impassable routes and roads on the way to popular destinations.

“We carefully considered the language, colors, and placement of these signs to help more people understand that wheeled vehicles cannot safely pass through these roads while they are covered with snow,” said Story. “Signs are bright yellow or orange to get the driver’s attention before entry.”

Roads managers will uncover these warning signs when snow conditions become impassable this winter, maximizing the time that roads remain open to wheeled vehicles. Signs will be removed or covered after snowmelt allows re-opening of the roads.

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New signs have been installed at the following locations:

39 Road and Highway 86 junction (Wallowa Mountain Loop Road)  

39 Road and Salt Creek Summit (Wallowa Mountain Loop Road)

3955 Road just north of the 39 Road junction on the Imnaha River (near the Fish Weir)

73 Road (Anthony Lakes Highway) at the town of Granite, a four-way intersection, and Grant County Route 24 junction.

73 Road (Anthony Lakes Highway) at the 43 Junction (the road to Grande Ronde Lake)

For more information, please contact your nearest Wallowa-Whitman National Forest office:   

Whitman Ranger District – Baker Office, Baker City, OR, (541) 523-6391

La Grande Ranger District, La Grande, OR, (541) 963-7186

Wallowa Mountains Office, Joseph, OR, (541) 426-5546Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, Clarkston, WA, (509) 758-0616

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Elkhorn Media Group