The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

As anyone driving into Sisters from the west on a busy summer weekend can tell you, the traffic gets heavy.

That has the Oregon Department of Transportation - and members of the Sisters City Council and the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners - concerned about the long-term prospects for the road that is Central Oregon's connection with the western half of the state.

"In the Sisters area all the county roads work fine in the 2030 Travel Demand Forecasting Model. The only section of the transportation network that doesn't work fine is US 20 west of Sisters to Black Butte," ODOT's Peter Russell told Sisters City Council and the Deschutes County Commissioners during their joint meeting on Wednesday, July 6.

"The proposal in the (Deschutes County Transportation System Plan, or TSP) is that about seven miles (between Black Butte and Sisters)...(be) put in passing at the cost of about $20 million."

That would mean four lanes; two in each direction.

Russell was speaking of the traffic flow model developed by the county that uses projected growth rates and other traffic data to calculate future daily traffic and future traffic conditions.

The prospect of four lanes between Sisters and Black Butte Ranch is nothing new. The model Russell described is an extension of a 1998 TSP - which also included the four-lane section. The model projects "failures" of roadways as defined by current traffic-flow standards. The seven-mile section between Sisters and Black Butte Ranch fails in 2030, according to current criteria. The current model will not step back to determine when this "failure" may occur, it simply shows that in 2030 the roadway has failed to support the projected traffic flow based on currently acceptable conditions.

Councilor Pat Thompson noted, "I think the highways coming through Sisters have a bigger impact on the region than they do on Sisters. It is very important to keep that flow going and to look down the line. We have to look at different ideas than what is on the table now. There are a lot of things that have to be talked about long-term to ensure the growth of Central Oregon. If people say we don't want to drive through Sisters to get to Bend (that is a regional problem)."

Russell encourages those with a strong opinion on the county TSP to make their comments during the adoption phase of the 2030 plan.

"When you have a road that fails in the city you can (often) improve parallel local routes. One of the challenges you have when you get a rural road (that fails), (is that) there is no parallel local route you can improve," he said. "There is really nothing you can do to get capacity. All you've got in your tool kit is to add

lanes."

Commissioner Tammy Baney said, "We have to look at things differently in order to achieve better outcomes than we are achieving now. What we are saying is failing here (locally) is completely fine in a metro area."

Baney's appointment by the governor to the five-member Oregon Transportation Commission last week gives her observations added weight. Baney will be the sole representative on the board for all of eastern Oregon. One of the duties of the commission is developing policies for ODOT.

The Deschutes County website, http://www.deschutes.org, will announce the dates for public comment on the county TSP.