City should consider roundabouts

On Tuesday, June 2, the Sisters Transportation Plan (TSP) will be presented to the community for public input.

A group of local citizens, along with city staff and consultants, has spent months laying out the vision for how cars, bicycles, and pedestrians will navigate our town in the coming years. Every possible transportation option was discussed - even the dreaded couplet!

While the TSP members have spent countless hours working to create the best possible solution to current and future traffic needs, we really need input from the public.

Why should you attend? Because the transportation plan will affect the livability of our city for many years to come. Input from the community before the plan is adopted is crucial - and that time is now.

There is one area in particular that needs public input: the installation of traffic lights at Locust/Highway 20 and at Barclay/Highway 20. While the TSP will do much to enhance access around and through our town for both residents and visitors, I feel that the easy way out of using traffic signals is not in the best interests of our community.

Placing roundabouts at both of these intersections would make them safer and more efficient. Roundabouts have proven very successful in Bend for more than a decade, and places like Australia and France have thousands of them.

Here are some reasons why we should consider roundabouts for our town:

Roundabouts at either end of the city would immediately tell you that you are entering someplace different than all of the other cities in Oregon that greet you with a RED light.

Roundabouts slow all traffic to 20 mph. Every car passing the elementary school will be traveling at a safe speed! Traffic lights allow traffic to enter town at highway speeds.

Roundabouts are safer. Ever heard of a fatality at a roundabout? In fact the Arizona Department of Transportation offers the following in support of roundabouts:

•Reduces injury accidents by 75 percent and fatal accidents by 90 percent.

•Increases efficient traffic flow up to 50 percent.

•Helps the environment by reducing carbon emissions by double digits.

•Decreases fuel consumption by as much as 30 percent.

Roundabouts allow bikes to move through the intersection without stopping.

Roundabouts allow locals to easily move around town without sitting at a red light on the 300 days that we don't have traffic congestion.

Placing a signal at Locust and Highway 20 would require 5-6 lanes of pavement going east/west (visualize Highway 20 at Empire in Bend).

Roundabouts would allow for the community to place art in the center. What better way to welcome people to our town than with some local art in the middle of the road. Plus having some 'unusual' art would provide fodder for conversation at the coffee house!

Roundabouts are environmentally friendly. They require no electricity to operate and don't contribute to greenhouse gasses by having cars idling, then accelerating away, like signals do.

Bend has installed dozens of roundabouts - even at busy intersections - and they are aesthetically pleasing, accepted by the public, and move traffic efficiently.

Several states (Arizona, Kansas, Minnesota, Maryland) have installed them on highways.

The Sisters vision statement calls for an "authentic village atmosphere," and the "protection of the town character." Roundabouts meet these goals while traffic lights come up short. If you agree, please come to the community forum and voice your opinion, or drop a letter to Eileen Stein, city manager.