News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sisters residents will have to put on the brakes more often than they used to after the city council's approval of the installation of 15 new STOP signs.
Most of the new signs were in place throughout the city the day after the council's November 16 decision.
STOP signs were to be installed on Ash, Fir, Spruce and Larch streets where they intersect Washington Street and on Ash, Elm, Fir Spruce and Larch where they meet Adams Street.
Two new STOP signs were to be placed at the corner of Jefferson and Locust streets to control traffic at the new bridge leading into the Buck Run subdivision. A yield sign was approved for the corner of Washington Street where it enters Locust Street.
The city council had previously considered installing as many as 34 STOP signs in Sisters but they deferred a decision until city Public Works Director and the Sisters Police Department were able to study how other cities determine when and where signs should be installed.
"There is no written document that says when there's this many cars going this way and this many going that way a STOP sign is required," Frazee told the council. He said that the only criteria is the need to ensure public safety.
Police Sergeant Rich Shawver said that putting signs on uncontrolled intersections would eliminate the "judgment call" of when a driver should yield the right-of-way, improve safety and make traffic enforcement easier and more consistent.
"My main concern is Adams Street at Elm and Fir and Spruce," Shawver reported. "Those are very dangerous intersections."
The call for additional STOP signs grew out of a request by Steve Allely for STOP signs to replace the YIELD signs at Washington and Ash streets. Allely, who lives on that corner, reported to the council several weeks ago that he had witnessed numerous near-collisions at the intersection.
Mayor Dave Moyer was against installing so many signs.
"I hate to see this town littered with STOP signs," Moyer said.
He agreed that STOP signs should be placed near the new bridge, at Ash and Washington and perhaps replacing the YIELD signs at Fir and Washington, but he said that putting signs at all the Washington cross streets and all along Adams would simply encourage drivers to speed along those streets.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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