Citizens can weigh in on couplet plans

Sisters residents can help shape future highway changes in the city by joining a Couplet Advisory Committee (CAC) now being formed by the City of Sisters.

The City of Sisters is in the process of selecting a consultant team (traffic engineering, community planning/public involvement, urban design) to prepare the Sisters Couplet Refinement Plan.

The city received a $30,000 grant from the Forest Service Community Assistance Program for the plan. The city has also budgeted another $20,000 for the project, for a total project budget of $50,000.

A couplet was adopted as part of the city's Transportation System Plan in 2001. The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) suggested drafting a refinement plan as a means of determining the final alignment. There were two possible Hood/Main Avenue alignments in the TSP.

The refinement plan will also identify environmental mitigation factors including right-of-way needs, and demonstrate community commitment to the project, according to City Administrator Eileen Stein.

"When completed, the plan will refine the scope of the project and give us the best project cost estimate, again including right of way," Stein reported. "This number will be used for the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) funding-priority setting process."

According to Stein, it is possible the couplet might be an eligible project under the Freight Mobility program in the new Oregon Transportation Investment Act (OTIA III).

That could mean a project might go forward sooner than expected.

"Prior to OTIA III, and prior to our knowing it might be OTIA III-eligible (which is recent news) I have been telling people that the soonest we could see funding for the project was the 2008-10 STIP because that's what ODOT told us last year," Stein said. "I don't know how much sooner we could see the project if it is OTIA III-eligible because ODOT is just investigating the possibility at this point."

The CAC will provide advisory guidance to the planning process as it evolves. The CAC is expected to meet about once a month from October through March.