Couplet planning costs on the rise

Plans to create a traffic alternative that will relieve traffic on Cascade Avenue is costing the City of Sisters more time and money than anticipated.

The Sisters City Council voted unanimously on Thursday to award an additional $18,462 to Cogan Owens Cogan (COC), a traffic engineering team which has been working with the city to design a Hood Avenue/Main Avenue couplet.

That amount is a 53 percent increase from the initial contract price that the City had with COC, which was for $34,250.

"The process of developing the refinement plan is taking longer than expected," Eileen Stein, city manager, wrote in a memorandum to the city council. "The issues associated with the Hood/Main alignment are numerous, complex and in some cases problematic."

The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) challenged plans from the city, the consultants and the citizens Couplet Advisory Committee (CAC) in February, stating that the sharp right-hand turn needed to access the proposed westbound Main Avenue would be too sharp to comply with federal regulations for a state highway.

Since then, COC has been working to develop an alternative that would meet with citizen and ODOT approval.

"Ultimately, to make the couplet funding-eligible, we'll have to incur the time and expense to identify a solution that will work for the community and ODOT," Stein said.

The city will pay $24,865 -- up from $16,691 -- to COC for attending CAC and ODOT meetings. The consultants will now be required to attend two additional CAC meetings and two additional ODOT meetings.

The city will be paying COC $14,059, up from $2,813 for tasks including traffic and transportation analysis and presenting graphs, maps and other materials for viewing. The total increases amount to $20,477, more than was approved by the council. However, according to Stein, the original contract of $34,250 was mistakenly high; the council should have approved $31,438.

The mistake is moot now, due to the increase and Stein said it never would have cost the city extra anyway, because COC is billing only on what it actually delivers.

As part of their transportation analysis, the consultants will be reviewing four major components relating to the proposed couplet.

They will review ODOT's proposed alternative, which establishes Hood Avenue and Main Avenue as state highways, but closes off through access to Cascade Avenue. The consultants will map and review this option looking for right-of-way and transportation impacts.

COC will also create two couplet alternatives which will combine elements of ODOT's alternative with the values of the city's initial proposals. These alternatives will attempt to relieve traffic but still keep Cascade Avenue open to through traffic.