Let La Pine sleep.
Morning, midday, and the middle of the night, semi-trucks rattle our homes with engine brakes on a flat stretch of Highway 97 that doesn't need them — disrupting work, family life, and sleep. We're asking for a No Engine Braking zone, and an honest noise study.
What this does to a neighborhood
This isn't just a nighttime problem. Around the clock — through workdays, dinners, and sleep alike — chronic highway noise reshapes life for dozens of households living feet from the road.
Stolen rest
Blasts shatter sleep at night — and rest for shift workers, babies, and nappers by day.
Health toll
Day-long noise exposure is linked to stress, fatigue, and poor sleep.
No peace by day
Daytime calls, conversations, kids at play, and quiet yards drowned out.
Lower home values
Documented noise drags down what neighbors' homes are worth.
We've done our homework
This is a reasonable, well-supported request — not an anti-truck campaign. Three facts make the case.
The federal residential noise limit under FHWA policy (23 CFR 772) — the standard we believe this stretch exceeds.
Our section of US-97 is level. Engine braking isn't needed here for safety, and alternatives are available.
Other Oregon communities along US-97 already restrict engine braking — safely, with no loss of trucking safety.
What we're asking for
Four concrete steps from the La Pine City Council and ODOT District 10.
A No Engine Braking zone
Establish a restricted engine-braking zone with proper signage through the residential stretch.
A professional noise study
Measure actual noise levels against the 66 dBA federal criteria under 23 CFR 772.
Sound-barrier evaluation
Where measured levels exceed the federal standard, evaluate barrier walls.
A City Council resolution
Pass a resolution backing the community's petition to ODOT — municipal weight behind the request.
No. We support safe freight.
Engine braking matters on steep grades. Ours isn't one. We're asking for a narrow, common-sense restriction on a level residential stretch — the kind already in place on Huntington Ave. in Three Rivers where the road includes many more curves and lower visibility.
- Level terrain — no safety need for engine braking here.
- Service brakes are fully adequate on this section.
- Proven precedent on US-97 elsewhere in Oregon.
Three minutes. Real pressure.
Sign first, then email the decision-makers. We’ve already written the message, just copy, paste it into Gmail or your email app, and send.
Want to help build the evidence? Take decibel readings with a free sound-level app — NIOSH Sound Level Meter for iOS or Sound Meter for Android — at different times of day, and note the date, time, and what you heard.