News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Car counters hired by an engineering firm contracting with the Oregon Department of Transportation kept their pencils busy at several points around Sisters last week, tracking the city's traffic patterns.
The traffic count is part of an "origin and termination study" that will become part of Sisters' Transportation System Plan (TSP). The counters recorded license plate numbers and tracked whether cars passed through town; stopped for a while and then passed through; or came and stayed.
Counting stations were set up on Wednesday, August 16 and Sunday, August 20, at the junction of Highways 20 and 126 at the east end of town; on Highway 20 west of town; at Camp Polk and Barclay Drive; on Highway 242 at Sisters High School and on Elm Street to the south.
According to traffic engineer David Knitowski, the count will help project future traffic and give an indication as to how much traffic might use a bypass.
The data will be presented to the citizen advisory committee that is working on the TSP at its next meeting on September 26. The data may shape recommendations for improving the city's traffic management.
"If we're going to solve a problem, we should know the characteristics of the traffic so we come up with an appropriate solution," said city planner Neil Thompson. "It'll tell us where to invest the money on a solution."
Thompson hopes to have a TSP in shape for public review sometime in October. The Sisters City Council must adopt the TSP.a"My goal is to have a TSP that can be adopted by the council in January," Thompson said.
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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