Advisors say couplet must enhance downtown

A couplet must enhance the downtown commercial area -- at least that's what the Couplet Advisory Committee set as its primary focus in its first meeting on Monday, November 10.

The committee, which consists of 18 business owners and community leaders, was created by the mayor last month to help refine plans to disperse highway traffic from Cascade Avenue by creating a one-way Hood/Main Avenue couplet.

Members of the committee said the idea of a couplet paints a negative picture for members of the community, who picture a major highway that will steal customer traffic and diminish the scenic, small-town ambiance.

Eileen Stein, Sisters' city manager, said the couplet is intended to be used as a "pressure relief valve" to help freight trucks and highway traffic avoid congestion during busy weekends and special events.

With the additional highways, Stein said the city would have the option to close off Cascade Avenue from vehicles during downtown special events.

Committee members nodded approval at that notion, which leaves a still-flourishing Cascade Avenue.

Matt Hastie, the project manager of Cogan Owens Cogan, the consulting team which will design the Sisters couplet, told the committee that the couplet will likely run at 25 miles per hour and surround a two-way, fully-accessible Cascade Avenue.

Stein said she hopes the committee will come up with some signage ideas or other options that will keep potential customers and sight-seers using Cascade Avenue.

"We need help on knowing how to design the entrance and exit to the couplet," Stein said.

"I think folks that have businesses on Cascade want traffic to continue along that route, so we need to create something so folks know they have two options and can use one when it's congested."

The community is a long way from being solidly behind a couplet.

Ric Nowak, Executive Director of the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce, said members are still confused about what the couplet would look like and if there are other options for traffic relief.

Sisters District Ranger Bill Anthony concurred

"The community is not clear on what, when and where the couplet will be," Anthony said. "What if 75 percent are opposed to the idea? What will the (city) council do then?"

Mayor Dave Elliott said there is still a possibility the city will not receive the funding from the Oregon Department of Transportation, but he said the city is closer than it ever has been to receiving funding and approval for the project.

He said regardless of the outcome, the city will refine a plan to have ready if the project is approved.

But Jerry Norquist, representative of Cycle Oregon, still worried over the implications of such a plan.

"We need to look at 10 to 20 years down the road and what we want our community to look like," Norquist said. "The question needs to be asked, 'Are we just moving traffic through the community?' Is that the best thing we need for this community? If the couplet is a done deal, then we will make the best of it, but maybe we need to make another committee (to look at those concerns)."

Elliott said the city has already studied other options beside a Hood/Main couplet and found this couplet to be the most sensible.

The other options, which were not approved, are detailed in chapter six of the city's Transportation System Plan.

Those options include adding lanes to Cascade Avenue, which was not approved because of the need to retain on-street parking; to keep the streets as they are, which was not approved because it would result in heavy traffic congestion; and to build a bypass, which was not recommended because it would only reduce congestion by an estimated 20 percent and would be highly expensive, according to the TSP.

ODOT suggested the city consider a couplet, which is less expensive than building a bypass, according to city reports.

Construction of the couplet could cost as much as $2 million and may not occur until 2008 or 2010, officials said.

The committee will also design parking on the couplet, decide the location and design of the entry and exit intersections of the couplet, connect and add perpendicular through-streets and mitigate pedestrian safety and traffic flow.

Peter Russell of ODOT said the design of the couplet will favor cyclist and pedestrian mobility over that of vehicles.

"The only thing that complicates that is that Highway 20 is a freight route," Russell said.

The Couplet Advisory Committee meetings are open to the public and will be held on the third Monday of each month at City Hall.