Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon lawmakers are unhappy about cost overruns and the slow pace of progress for a new statewide emergency radio system.

A legislative panel Wednesday grilled officials in charge of building that system and even questioned whether the project should continue.

The idea is to allow various federal, state and local emergency agencies in Oregon to communicate on the same radio system. That's not always possible now.

It's called the Oregon Wireless Interoperability Network, or OWIN. It's supposed to be ready in 2012. That timeline is now in doubt.

Matthew Garrett: "This project was stuck in the mud."

That's Matthew Garrett, the director of the Oregon Department of Transportation. Lawmakers transferred oversight of OWIN from the Oregon State Police to ODOT last spring.

Democratic Senator Betsy Johnson asked Garrett whether the agency has considered pulling the plug altogether.

Betsy Johnson: "I'm just trying to figure out if you are only working on a 'go' scenario, or is there another alternative to mothball the project?"

Garrett says ODOT is considering its options but he called talk of canceling the project "chilling." Legislative staff say the communications network is roughly $100 million over budget.

Information about the Oregon Wireless Interoperability Network