McKinney Butte Road opens

McKinney Butte Road off Hwy. 20, west of Sisters, is now open past The Pines subdivision. photo by Tom Chace

The first phase of a through road from Highway 20 to the new high school opened last week without much flourish.

The complete extension, including a sewer hookup to the City of Sisters system, is scheduled to be ready by the time school opens this fall.

A major sewer line is already installed, serving the numerous churches in the area. The line will be hooked to the high school by late August, according to Rob Ring, construction project supervisor at the new Sisters High School.

McKinney Butte Road takes off from Highway 20 opposite the Barclay Road extension, which runs from the east side of town through the Sisters Industrial Park.

Barclay Road opened several months ago and is already being used as a bypass through downtown Sisters on busy "event weekends" and holidays.

The new McKinney Butte Road runs south between the Comfort Inn of Sisters and the newly reopened Shell service station. It runs through The Pines subdivision before making a bend to the south.

It intersects with Brooks Camp Road where there is a stop sign in the other direction for motorists turning onto the new McKinney Butte Road.

Eventually, McKinney Butte Road will continue directly west past the Mormon church, Sonrise Christian School and Little League ball fields to the high school. It will have no stop signs until it gets to the school.

This new road will be a "back door" to the school as the main entrance to the new high school can be accessed directly from the McKenzie Highway.

A left turn at the Brooks Camp intersection takes traffic past the Episcopal church to the McKenzie Highway.

The road will be an obvious shortcut from Black Butte Ranch, Camp Sherman, Indian Ford Road and Tollgate for those wanting to go directly to Sisters Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration.

Any of the other churches in the area, or the old high school -- soon to be the middle school -- can now be reached from the west by turning right onto McKinney Butte Road, then left on Brooks Camp Road, and right again, heading further west on the McKenzie Highway.

The road should also ease traffic on McKenzie highway from the "Y" on the west end of Sisters as there is now direct access from Brooks Camp Road into the Episcopal church parking lot.