News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The Sisters City Council has quietly dropped the idea of restricting traffic on Barclay Drive to right turns only onto Highway 20.
The council had floated the idea as a means of increasing safety at the Barclay Drive/Highway 20 intersection, which has been the site of several serious accidents.
However, according to Sisters Public Works Director Brad Grimm, the council backed away from the plan because they were concerned it would actually create more problems than it would solve.
The city is prepared to fund its portion of a signal or other regulatory mechanism at the intersection, but the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) says funds are not available. In any case, placing a signal at the intersection must wait for completion of the city's Transportation System Plan (TSP). The city is working on the TSP and hopes to have it completed this fall.
That means a signal at Barclay Drive and Highway 20 is at least a couple of years away.
The city is awaiting a go-ahead from ODOT to extend a lowered speed zone further west on Highway 20. ODOT's Region 4 office forwarded a speed study to the Salem office for review, according to Grimm.
"I'm hoping we get something back from the state within two or three weeks," he said.
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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