Sisters citizens to weigh in on couplet

Sisters is still wrestling with traffic issues. photo by Jim Cornelius Sisters residents, business owners and others will have a chance on Monday, June 21, to learn more about planning for the Sisters Couplet and weigh in on Couplet Plan alternatives and options.

A long-awaited public workshop on the Couplet Refinement Planning process is scheduled for June 21, 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Sisters Middle School (15200 McKenzie Highway) in the cafetorium.

City staff and consultants, along with a Couplet Advisory Committee (CAC), have been reviewing and evaluating options for the proposed couplet plan for several months. CAC members include local business owners and citizens, city council and planning commission members, representatives of the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), Sisters Library District, U.S. Forest Service and others.

The purpose of the Couplet Refinement Plan is to devise a way to reduce future traffic congestion in Sisters. The couplet was identified as a preferred measure for addressing long-term congestion by the city council when it adopted the city's Transportation System Plan in 2000.

At that time, the city also identified and reviewed a variety of other options for reducing congestion, which is expected to worsen as growth and traffic increase over the next 20 years. These strategies included making major changes to Cascade Avenue (e.g., adding lanes, widening road shoulders, creating protected left turn lanes, limiting turning movements and/or driveway accesses, signalizing intersections, or eliminating parking) and building a bypass around the city.

The first strategy was rejected on the basis that such measures would detract from a pedestrian-oriented environment in downtown Sisters.

A bypass is considered an even longer-term solution to congestion because it would cost significantly more than a couplet (approximately $2 million for a couplet vs. over $17 million for a bypass, according to ODOT estimates).

The council also worried about potential adverse effects of a bypass on local businesses and economic vitality in Sisters.

The couplet would transform Hood and Main Avenues into one-way streets, with Cascade Avenue remaining a two-way street.

The couplet refinement plan will clarify the proposed alignment for the couplet, evaluate operational issues, identify the economic and environmental impacts, establish mitigation strategies and determine a project cost estimate.

Without a plan, city officials say, a project will not survive the competitive regional prioritization process used to determine which projects receive state funding.

At the earliest, state funding for the couplet will not be available until 2010 or 2011, according to City Manager Eileen Stein.

One important aspect of the couplet under consideration is which street(s) in Sisters would be designated as State Highway 20. The state highway could remain along Cascade Avenue or be shifted to Hood and Main Avenues.

According to Stein, the designation of the state highway route has implications for how the couplet is designed, availability of state funds, how and when Cascade Avenue can be used for local events and where diagonal parking will be allowed.

Participants will be asked to identify their preferred alternative, as well as potential impacts and ways to address them.

The meeting will open with a 30 to 45 minute presentation, followed by small group discussions and a large group discussion.