News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Shattered glass and twisted metal littered the intersection of Barclay Drive and Highway 20 on Monday morning as firefighters and paramedics worked to extract injured parties from the wreckage of a passenger car and a pickup truck that collided just before 8 a.m.
Five people were were hurt. Kelly Cole, 14, of Sisters, a rear passenger in the Toyota Camry sedan, was transported to St. Charles Medical Center in Bend via Air Life. Also transported by air was 57-year-old David Boleyn of Redmond, the driver of the pickup truck.
Lynn Cole, 50, the driver of the Camry, was trapped in the vehicle and had to be extricated by firefighters. She was transported by ground ambulance. Two people - one from each vehicle - were taken to the hospital via private vehicle.
According to Oregon State Police reports, the Camry was crossing Highway 20 southbound on Barclay Drive when it was struck broadside by the pickup truck. Both vehicles sustained major front-end damage. Accidents are an all-too-common occurrence at the intersection.
"This is the third major accident we've had at this intersection in three years and we've had two Air Life (transports) out of of those three," said Sisters Fire Chief Tay Robertson. "We're really encouraging folks to slow down at that intersection and be very careful crossing, be very careful turning."
Robertson said that it's clear that bad things are happening at the intersection.
That's clear to many in Sisters, who, in the wake of each accident, wonder when a signal will be installed.
That's not as simple a matter as it might seem. According to officials with the City of Sisters and with the Oregon Department of Transportation, Sisters' Transportation System Plan (TSP) must be completed to determine what sort of traffic "improvement" is needed at that intersection.
"We're hoping to move into the implementation process (on the TSP) by fall, but we're still putting the plan together," City Manager Eileen Stein told The Nugget.
ODOT planner Jim Bryant said that a signal carries safety risks as well as benefits. The first signal in town drivers hit coming off of highway travel carries "potential of high-speed rear-end accidents, which is also a very dangerous situation."
A "rural roundabout" is a possible consideration, Bryant said.
Bryant said funding is also an issue. ODOT and the City of Sisters are supposed to share costs 50/50. Those costs aren't determined yet, pending on selection of a traffic improvement. The City must fund through systems development charges (SDCs) to developers. With the new shopping center going in, it appears that there are sufficient SDCs.
Stein told The Nugget that "I think the City has enough to fund it's share."
ODOT does not, at least not now, Bryant said. He noted that the intersection is part of ODOT's funding plans for the 2010-13 time period, which may make it possible to do something relatively soon by "borrowing" against future allocated funds.
But none of that is certain. It appears unlikely that there will be significant change at the Barclay Drive/Highway 20 intersection for the next couple of years.
Joel McCarrell of ODOT said an improvement such as a signal could move pretty quickly once it is decided upon and funded, unless the agency has to purchase right-of-way.
McCarrell said that the agency will look at interim steps to improve safety, such as making sure signing, sightlines and striping are adequate.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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