LA GRANDE â Morgan Lake Road soon may be safer to travel.
The Union County Board of Commissioners voted Monday, April 12, to apply for a $99,847 matching grant from the state the county needs before it can receive about $1.2 million from the stateâs All Roads Safety Transportation program for a Morgan Lake Road improvement project, which calls for widening the steep gravel road and installing guardrails.
The project may not go forward unless the state receives the required matching grant by 2022, according to Union County Commissioner Paul Anderes. Should the grant come through by then, project construction could start in 2023.
The match funding grant Union County is requesting would come from a portion of the $2.6 billion Oregon will receive from the American Rescue Plan Act, which Congress passed in early March for COVID-19 pandemic relief, according Courtney Warner Crowell, coordinator for Gov. Kate Brownâs Regional Solutions Program. This programâs advisory
The COVID-19 pandemic has made it possible for some people to spend a couple of nights this winter in a snowbound log cabin high in the Elkhorn Mountains.
That didnât work.
And with the winter solstice two weeks away, dark comes early to the Elkhorn Mountains.
Besides which, the couple, unfamiliar with the area, didnât know how far they might have to hike to reach safety.
The nearest home was in reality about 19 miles away.
âWalking wasnât viable,â Belknap, 28, said in a phone interview Tuesday evening.
The coupleâs other option happened to be orbiting the Earth about 870 miles up.
Belknap and McDonald, in addition to their camping gear, had brought along a Garmin GPS unit equipped with an inReach satellite connection. By pressing a button on the device, they sent a signal, via a network of orbiting satellites, that alerted law enforcement that they needed help. The signal also pinpointed their location.