Traffic relief may depend on parking

Sisters business owners may go along with taking parking off Cascade Avenue to improve traffic flow -- but only if 100 parking spaces are found elsewhere.

Parking concerns were raised as a caution flag at a workshop of the Citizens' Advisory Committee working on Sisters' Transportation System Plan on Tuesday, May 30.

Bob Grooney, who owns The Gallimaufry on Cascade Avenue, cautioned that business support for change would most likely hinge on parking.

"If we lose all those Cascade (parking) spaces, we'd need 100 or so on side-streets," he said.

City planner Neil Thompson agreed.

"This decision will be political, that is, made by the city council," he said. "And it won't be based on traffic but on parking -- and the impact on the commercial side."

The removal of parking from one or both sides of Cascade Avenue is being explored as one option to deal with ever-increasing traffic on the thoroughfare that bisects downtown Sisters.

Traffic is expected to increase as the Central Oregon region continues to grow.

Over the past 10 years, the population of Deschutes County has increased by over 42 percent.

The explosive growth of Bend, central to this surge, shows no sign of easing.

Sisters has grown more modestly. But with 500 platted lots, another 625 buildable lots, the possibility of denser housing patterns and a sewer system slated for completion in two years, the prospect is clear for continued dynamic growth -- and an accompanying increase in vehicular traffic.

In previous planning meetings committee members had examined options such as a one-way couplet, traffic signals and a bypass.

These options were noticeably absent from last Tuesday's dialogue.

Instead, traffic consultant David Knitowski presented an interconnected design to control local traffic flow.

Knitowski, noting that residents' autos contribute approximately 40 percent of the traffic on Highway 20 through Sisters, emphasized the importance of using local residential streets to feed into designated connector streets.

Under Knitowski's plan, connectors such as Elm, Jefferson, Main and Hood streets would funnel traffic to Cascade Avenue, the artery.

But what happens after drivers efficiently reach that clogged artery?

Currently, Cascade Avenue supports 92 parallel parking spaces. Options to remove parking from either or both sides of the street, according to Knitowski, may be the most practical methods for dealing with congestion.

However, he cautioned, traffic flow studies have not been completed and the situation may not yet warrant these solutions.

Each lane opened up by eliminating parking would provide a left-turn lane. The lane(s) would substantially increase flow by eliminating back-up as drivers wait for others to make left turns.

Finally, Thompson asked Knitowski to prepare a report detailing options for maintaining the current practice of re-routing traffic on busy days, and the possible strategies of providing one or two left-turn lanes.

The committee will next meet in July. No date has been set.