City mulls intersection fix

With a signal at Barclay Drive and Highway 20 on the back burner for at least a couple of years, the City of Sisters is looking at ways to make the intersection safer on its own.

There have been several major wrecks at the intersection over the past few years, including a serious crash there earlier this month that sent several people to the hospital.

One option under serious consideration is making the north side of the intersection right-turn-only, requiring traffic to turn westbound onto Highway 20 and forbidding cross-traffic from north to south.

City Public Works Director Brad Grimm met with Joel McCarrell and Jim Bryant of the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) at the intersection last week to discuss possible interim "fixes."

Grimm told the Sisters City Council in a workshop last Thursday that ODOT doesn't care for the right-turn-only option, but will acquiesce to it if it is the city's desire.

"They think it would be somewhat of a waste of money," Grimm said, since drivers would likely not heed the requirement for an inconvenient maneuver.

One solution to that problem, suggested by Mayor Brad Boyd, would be to place flexible plastic pylons that would inhibit a car moving straight through the intersection.

"It would be very difficult for somebody to drive over those and say 'Oh, I didn't know,'" Boyd said. "It would go so you had to go right. You'd have to roll over four or five of these things (to go straight)."

The majority of the councilors favored the right-turn-only change as the most effective immediate change. They agreed that they want ODOT to consider extending the 20 mph speed zone further out, but that will take a six-week ODOT speed study.

The right-turn-only change could be accomplished in a couple of weeks, according to Grimm. The city will have to submit a design for repainting and restriping the intersection and get it approved by ODOT's regional (Bend) office. The striping, while on a city street, is in ODOT's highway right-of-way.

The project would likely cost several thousand dollars.

Not everyone was sure that the right-turn-only option would be a safety improvement. Councilor Sharlene Weed expressed concern that drivers would turn right on the highway, then flip a U-turn to head back into town.

City Manager Eileen Stein noted that traffic wanting to cross Highway 20 could turn left at Rail Way next to the McDonald's restaurant and turn left on Arrowleaf Trail - but she was concerned that that would be sending traffic through a construction zone as the new Ray's supermarket and a shopping center are being built.

"My concern is that we're creating a new problem by trying to fix the first problem," Weed said. "I'm not sure there is a better (solution). I just want to make sure the one we are proposing actually is beneficial, that's all."

Councilor Bill Merrill argued that the right-turn-only change is the only effective one the city can undertake. He said just extending the speed limit restriction won't do enough.

"People drive fast anyway," he said. "It doesn't matter what the sign says."

Merrill said the city can't help it if people make foolish turns in violation of the law. As for the inconvenience of the right-turn-only maneuver, Merrill noted that there are many options to avoid the intersection altogether.

Grimm threw up a caution flag: "If they do an illegal move, that's their choice, but if their illegal move hurts or kills an innocent person, that's still a problem for us, I think. So we've got to be really careful how we implement a change without a traffic engineer's study."

Public works staff will create a design for council review next week and the council will decide whether to submit the proposal to ODOT. The city will immediately request the speed study required to extend the 20 mph zone, and ODOT will also place some additional signs on the highway approaching the intersection warning of a dangerous intersection ahead.

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Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

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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