News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
A traffic light may be installed at the corner of Camp Polk Road, Locust Street and Highway 20 near Sisters' elementary and middle schools within the next couple of years.
The Sisters Community Action Team has been lobbying the Oregon Department of Transportation for a traffic signal for about a year, according to CAT team member Vicki Patterson. She said a traffic count conducted by ODOT on the weekend of October 12-13 "meets the required signal warrants and justifies installation of a traffic signal at that location."
Steve Wilson, (no relation to the mayor of Sisters) regional traffic operations supervisor for ODOT, acknowledged that the signal "meets traffic warrants."
But, he said, "there's no project yet."
According to Wilson, the state traffic engineer will have to sign off on the traffic study data and approve the installation.
Funds for the traffic signal could be allocated at a Statewide Transportation Improvement Programs hearing to be scheduled in either Bend or Redmond early in 1999, Wilson said. Sisters citizens will have an opportunity to testify at that hearing, he noted.
"(The signal is) going to have to compete for funding with many other projects throughout the region," Wilson said.
Even if funding for a signal is approved, Wilson emphasized, ODOT's two-year funding cycle and an eight-month planning period means the signal will probably not be installed for at least two years.
ODOT has asked the Sisters City Council for a letter of support for the signal. According to mayor Steve Wilson, the council will likely hold a special public hearing before the end of the year.
The agency also asked the Sisters School District to indicate whether they want a flashing school zone sign.
The proposed signal would be sensitive to the movement of cars and also could be pedestrian activated.
When there is no traffic waiting on Camp Polk Roador Locust Street, the light on the highway would remain green.
The members of CAT acknowledge that a traffic signal is a symbol of change in Sisters.
CAT team member Robert Shaw said, "I think a lot of people are going to view this as a growth/no growth issue. It's really not... I think it's a long-overdue need in our community.
"You've got two schools at that intersection and no safe means to cross the highway. This provides that," he said.
Schools Superintendent Steve Swisher, while not advocating a specific solution, echoed concerns about safety.
"I'm extremely concerned about the traffic flow at that intersection and I definitely think we need to do something for the safety of our students," Swisher said.
ODOT's Wilson told The Nugget that the agency gauges safety issues according to accident data, not on potential safety problems.
He said there is not much of a record of accidents at that intersection.
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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