City of Sisters gets set to address traffic problems ... again

For at least the third time in the last 15 years, the Sisters City Council will attempt to find a solution to the traffic problem that has plagued the city for at least two decades.

"I would say that the traffic problem was recognized about 20 years ago. Certainly for the 18 years that I have owned a business here, it has been a discussion that has come up repeatedly," said Sisters Mayor Brad Boyd. "About every five years or so ODOT (Oregon Department of Transportation) takes a run at putting something together that the community has said: 'Hey we don't want that.'"

The traffic problem is a priority for the city council, and they want to find a solution.

"If this is not the number one issue facing the city, it is certainly right up there. It is one of the reasons that updating the transportation system plan (TSP) is one of the top goals of the council. We will begin the update of the plan this fall," said Mayor Boyd.

The problem is much more complicated than it might appear, as no matter what the city wants, ODOT has to agree.

"Unfortunately, the reality on the ground is that the city can't even put up a 'yield to pedestrian sign' on Cascade Avenue without ODOT's permission.

It is their highway, and we can't do anything without their approval.

By the same token they (ODOT) can't come into Sisters and say: 'We are going to take over these two streets and put a couplet in' without the city's approval," said Mayor Boyd. "Traditionally and historically what they (ODOT) have done is: we get money from ODOT and use one of their engineers, and they come up with an ODOT approved solution, and they usually ignore citizen input.

At one point it was a Cascade and Hood couplet; at one point it was a Cascade and Main couplet, and at one point it was a Main and Hood couplet.

You will notice that the one common theme is couplet.

And then they present it to the community, and the last time they did, which was probably three or four years ago, they said: 'We have three couplet options for you.

Which one do you want?' As a community we all felt that each option had a fatal flaw, and basically no one liked any of the options.

That is how it has always gone," said Mayor Boyd.

This time it will be different, according to Mayor Boyd.

"We have budgeted and secured some funds to do our own TSP. We are going to be identifying an engineering firm that we will hire and will work for us. The first thing we will do is have a town hall meeting and get people involved before we get started and tell them: 'Look, we will not all agree, but we have five options and none of them is a magic silver bullet.'

"One might be doing nothing. One could be a bypass. One could be a couplet. One could be making Cascade four lanes. There could also be some intermediate things we could do. For example, we could pull some parking off Cascade and put in a center left turn lane, or we could make it so that you can't turn left at all," Mayor Boyd said.

It is unlikely that there will be any solution that will engender full community support.

"Probably the solution that will be the one most liked by the community is a bypass, but that will cost ODOT tens of millions of dollars and require coordination with the Forest Service, the county and ODOT. If that is what the community wants, then we are going to have to lobby for it, and I am willing do it. But that is a long-term solution, and we will need something to buy us time until it can be implemented," said Mayor Boyd.

Even with the best of cooperation, there will still be a long wait until anything can be completed.

"With public input and giving the engineers time to do their work, it will probably take about a year to complete. Then implementation will take the longest time," Mayor Boyd said.