New connector road on schedule

Heavy equipment moves onto McKinney Butte Road. photo by Tom Chace

The long-awaited McKinney Butte link from Highway 20 to the new Sisters High School will be surfaced next week (Monday-Wednesday, September 4-6) and is expected to be finished and ready for the opening of school on Monday, September 15.

Hap Taylor and Sons, Inc. has the contract to do the finish grading upon the road, which includes laying a bed of rock and gravel and then putting down the asphalt.

"We're just waiting for the contractors scheduled ahead of us to do the prep work," said Jeff Curl, paving division co-manager for Hap Taylor & Sons. "This work should be done by Labor Day and we can go in immediately after. The whole project is right on schedule."

Other contractors have mostly completed their specific jobs by now. The electrical lines and other conduits are in place and the major sewer line hooking the new school to the city line is ready for testing once the road surface has been finished.

Locally, Barclay Contractors, with offices near The Pines and shops on McKinney Butte Road, are doing some of the preliminary work.

McKinney Butte lies directly opposite from Barclay Road, which runs through Sisters Industrial Park to intersect with Highway 20 at Ponderosa Lodge.

McKinney Butte Road runs from Highway 20 between the Shell Service Station and the Comfort Inn, past The Pines residential development and crosses Brooks Camp Road. The road is already finished to Brooks Camp Road and open from there with a left hand turn to McKenzie Highway.

Four property owners along McKinney Butte Road and Trinity Way have already hooked up to the new city sewer line.

This "tangent" line is now operable.

The property owners are part of a consortium that was activated two months ago including the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration, St. Edward the Martyr Catholic Church, Trinity Christian Center and a private land owner.

"In addition to the road, we're going to build a six-foot- wide sidewalk alongside McKinney Butte roadway that will get pedestrians off the road itself and away from traffic," said Curl. "This sidewalk will also be finished by school time."

Once the fire crews are away from the "staging area" at the old high school, soon to be Sisters Middle School, Taylor's company will surface a loop from the new McKinney Butte Road around behind the back of the school, splitting into a "Y" and then hooking both into the East and West parking lots.

"This road will run past the present playing fields and football stadium," said Curl, "where the roads are now mostly sand and gravel."

This new, paved loop, even if not finished by the opening of the middle school September 15, will not delay school activities as the original main entrance from McKenzie Highway will continue to be in use.