It was a less safe thing that the Oregon Department of Transportation announced.

ODOT will be doing less plowing, less pavement maintenance, less removal of debris, less removal of graffiti.

It will mean more potholes and ruts. Lines painted on state highways will fade. More ice and snow on the road could mean “the potential for traffic jams and crashes increase,” ODOT says.

We all know the feeling of a skid or a slip on a road when snow and ice are not attacked early and often. Sometimes it’s nothing. Sometimes it’s serious.

The reduction in service is a regression. A decline in highway safety. The ability of Oregon government to provide the same level of highway safety outstripped its grasp in the last legislative session.

As some readers will recall, we have already written about various aspects of this issue. We wondered: What could be done?

The Legislature may be finished with ODOT’s budget essentially until 2025.

“Our state highway system is facing a structural funding challenge that legislators will need to address when they take up a transportation package in 2025,” a statement from Gov. Tina Kotek’s office says. “Our office is also exploring what options may exist in the immediate. In the meantime, I encourage Oregonians to contact their legislators to encourage them to find long-term solutions that will ensure our state transportation infrastructure is meeting the needs of Oregon families, businesses, and visitors.”

After digging deeper, we don’t think anything is going to happen “in the immediate.”

The Oregon Legislature does have a tool for budget issues that come up between sessions — the Emergency Board. It’s a legislative committee that has a pool of money it can spend. We checked and it was allocated $50 million in discretionary funding.

The leaders of the E-board, Senate President Rob Wagner and House Speaker Dan Rayfield, could convene a discussion. There are apparently no plans to do so. Wagner’s office did not get back to us. Rayfield’s office did. Kudos to Rayfield.

This is what his office told us through a spokesperson: “ODOT has historically managed their budget to have minimal impact on Oregonians and ensure our system is safe for everyone. We’ve spoken to the Governor and the Executive branch about this. ODOT has not brought forward a request for additional funding for (the) E-board to consider at this time.”

Think about what that means. Oregon’s highways are going to be less safe and the Legislature, the governor and the executive branch are not being proactive to correct it.

It was a less safe thing that ODOT announced. We’d argue that it’s more dangerous that there are zero plans to do anything about it until 2025.