An Oregon Department of Transportation snowplow clears a roadway in Baker County.

A Blue Mountain blizzard shutting down Interstate 84 never seems quite so distant as during a July heat wave.

But the flakes will fall.

And for the second time in the past three years, the fleet of snowplows that keep the freeway passable, along with hundreds of miles of state highways, is sputtering.

This time, though, the solution appears to be more complicated than the fiscal equivalent to replacing the spark plugs.

The Oregon Legislature adjourned in late June without fulfilling a vital task — approving a transportation budget package. This despite ample warning from Gov. Tina Kotek, Oregon Department of Transportation officials and others during the five-month session about the potential consequences of failure.

Little more than a week after legislators left Salem, ODOT sent layoff notices to 483 employees — about 10% of the agency’s workforce. The layoffs will be effective July 31.

The largest share of the layoffs went to ODOT employees whose tasks, including driving snowplows, have the most immediate effect on the public.

Of the 483 notices, 159 were to transportation maintenance specialists, who, as that rather cumbersome title suggests, help to keep our highways driveable.

The layoff list includes 31 maintenance workers in Northeastern Oregon.

In the fall of 2023, ODOT announced that due to a budget shortfall the agency would reduce snowplowing, sanding and salting on some secondary highways, including in Northeastern Oregon.

Legislators avoided that by allocating $19 million to ODOT for the remainder of the two-year budget cycle — the cycle that ended June 30, 2025, without a transportation package.

The current situation is worse. ODOT workers will lose their jobs.

This is not acceptable. The state has money available. Legislators could tap the rainy day fund, which has about $1.9 billion. Three-fifths of both chambers in the Legislature would need to approve spending any of that money.

Kotek said during a meeting with journalists from Carpenter Media Group on July 8 that “we need to solve this issue,” referring to the ODOT shortfall. “Laying off hundreds of people from ODOT is bad for the state. It’s bad for basic services that people count on.”

Kotek said she is considering summoning legislators for a special session.

The prospect of snow stacking up on Interstate 84, the vital transportation link in our region, while ODOT snowplows are parked and $1.9 billion sits in the rainy day fund, is abhorrent, and an insult to Oregonians.

And the potential problems are hardly limited to the freeway.

Secondary highways in places especially prone to heavy snowfall, such as Highway 204 over Tollgate and Highway 245 over Dooley Mountain south of Baker City, can quickly become impassable — literally — during a blizzard without regular plowing.

We’re not worried about rainy days in Northeastern Oregon.

It’s the frozen forms of precipitation that cause problems.

And the days are getting shorter.