For years, Jefferson County road crews have had to make hard choices about which bridges sag a little more each year and which potholes can wait another season. A major wave of outside funding is about to change that math.
Jefferson County Public Works has secured more than $28.5 million in state and federal grants over the past two years — the largest influx of outside transportation funding that department Director Matt Powlison says he has seen in his eight years with the county.
"Bridge and road safety, transportation safety is a priority all the time," Powlison said. "We're doing the best we can to keep our signs, our guardrails, our roads in as good a condition as we can for safety. What this funding does is just allows us to do even more."
Why Outside Money Matters So Much Here
Without grant funding, Jefferson County Public Works operates on roughly $2.5 million per year to maintain more than 600 miles of county roads. That's a thin budget for a vast rural road network that serves ranchers, farmers, school buses, and emergency responders across the county's sprawling geography.
Jefferson County Commissioner Kelly Simmelink credited the grant-writing work of Powlison and his team for the unprecedented results.
"I'm incredibly proud of Matt and his team and what they've been able to get both federally and from the state for much-needed repairs and safety concerns," Simmelink said. "They are world-class in what they do."
Where the Money Is Going
Much of the funding is targeted at five major infrastructure projects across the county, including the Bear Drive Bridge — a structure more than 70 years old that has been flagged for replacement. The Oregon Department of Transportation performs regular structural inspections to identify when bridges and roads have reached the end of their service life.
"ODOT really lets us know when different components are failing," Powlison said. "Which is very helpful, because the last thing we want is somebody to have an injury or something happen because they go over a bridge and we don't know that it's in poor condition."
Roads typically need repaving every 20 years; bridges can last about 75 years before they require full reconstruction. The grant funding gives the county a rare opportunity to tackle a backlog of deferred projects and address safety concerns that have been on the list for years.
What It Means for Residents
Jefferson County's road network is the connective tissue of everyday life for residents in Madras, Culver, Metolius, Crooked River Ranch, Ashwood, and the rural areas in between. Better roads and safer bridges mean shorter detours, safer school bus routes, and faster emergency response times across one of Central Oregon's most geographically spread-out counties.
Public Works plans to prioritize projects in advance and sequence them to get the most safety value from each dollar. Additional details on specific project locations and timelines are expected to be released as design and contracting work gets underway.