Bypass is not an option for Sisters

Some people in Sisters are still asking city officials for a bypass, complaining they don't want highway traffic diverted to downtown's Hood and Main Avenues.

They are afraid heavy truck traffic will ruin the downtown ambiance and deter pedestrian customers.

But City Planner Neil Thompson says a bypass is not an option. The job of the Couplet Advisory Committee is to make the best of the options they have -- which has steered the city toward a couplet (see story, page 1).

The 20-person committee meets monthly to design plans to build an eastbound Hood Avenue -- westbound Main Avenue couplet which, if approved, will be built about 2010. The couplet is intended to relieve traffic congestion on Cascade Avenue during peak periods.

One reason a bypass is not an option is because it is not in the city's Transportation System Plan (TSP), which was adopted in 2001, Thompson said. Before anything can be added to the TSP, the city must show the Oregon Department of Transportation how it plans to fund the project.

The cost to build a bypass is estimated at $17.2 million, while the cost to build the couplet is about $3 million, according to the TSP. Thompson said the city can offer some leverage with financial support for the couplet, but not for a project as expensive as a bypass.

Before ODOT will consider funding a bypass or new highway, a city must mitigate its traffic congestion with incremental changes, such as a couplet, said Peter Russell, senior planner at ODOT.

"You can widen roads or do a couplet," Russell said. "When you climb a ladder, you don't just leap to the top rung."

Thompson said when the city looked at various long-term traffic solutions, some residents wanted a bypass and some residents wanted the city to do nothing.

He said a couplet was a good compromise.

"Some segments like a bypass, but definitely not the people who own property on Cascade," Thompson said. "The people who own expensive property on Cascade, they don't want to lose one car. Others want a quick way around town. (A couplet) is the best solution for Sisters."

According to a study cited in the Transportation System Plan, cities with a population of less than 1,000 people, like Sisters, are at the greatest risk of losing significant customer counts after the construction of a bypass.

A bypass would not save that much travel time in such a small area as Sisters, Russell said.

According to the transportation plan, a two-mile bypass at 60 miles-per-hour would save two minutes of travel time.

"Two minutes is not much," Russell said. "You have to weigh the cost/benefit ratio when you have to spend millions to build."

Thompson said it is important to remember the city only has traffic congestion during weekends and tourist seasons.

"If you think about it, we don't need a couplet or a bypass 90 percent of the time," Thompson said. "I'm looking out my window right now and I don't see one car. I can roll a bowling ball down the street and not hit anything."