Transportation system draft plan unveiled

Last updated Jun 09, 2009 12:0pm0

About 50 Sisters Country residents attended the fourth transportation system planning community forum on Tuesday, June 2, at City Hall.

This forum was the culmination of over two years of work by the most recent Transportation System Planning (TSP) Advisory Committee, in coordination with the City of Sisters and an outside consulting engineering firm, DKS Associates.

The most significant element of the plan is a proposed alternate route allowing through traffic to use Barclay Drive to circumvent the downtown core of Sisters.

Sisters City Manager Eileen Stein opened the forum with an overview of process-to-date.

"This session is designed for you to review and comment on the draft plan created by the advisory committee. Your comments and feedback will become part of the draft plan presented to the city's planning commission this summer. They will review and refine the plan before eventually presenting it to the city council to begin their evaluation by about August," said Stein.

"This is not the last opportunity for residents to comment and provide input on the plan, however; there will be more public sessions scheduled as the plan moves through those groups," added Stein.

Stein estimates that it will take the rest of this year before the plan is reviewed by the planning commission and officially adopted by the city council. Then the city has to figure out how to fund all the transportation system improvements.

"I'd say we're looking at three to five years before we actually see the changes. Most people don't understand how long transportation funding takes in Oregon. The decisions are highly political, competitive, and the process is long term," Stein said.

Following a brief overview of the draft plan by DKS Associates, attendees were free to roam the room reviewing various charts and maps prepared to show the suggested transportation system improvements. Comment forms were also available for residents to fill out during the session.

The entire 150-page TSP draft plan is available on the city Web site: http://www.ci.sisters.or.us/departments/planning/sisters_transportation_system_plan.shtm.

The current TSP committee's draft plan does not include a couplet recommendation, which has been floated many times during Sisters' checkered history of transportation planning (see related story, page 21). The proposed plan centers on a pressure-relieving alternate route (Highway 20/Barclay Drive/Locust/Highway 20) around the north side of town.

Eric Porter, community development director for the City of Sisters, understands the development challenges of a couplet versus an alternative route.

"The couplet would have to be built at one time to work correctly, and costs an estimated $47 million," he said. "The alternate route can be built in stages, and the cost is about $41 million. The alternate route would allow Cascade to be improved, potentially through enhancement grants, in a manner that would not hinder traffic using Cascade or the alternate route."

The question of traffic lights vs. roundabouts at the intersections of Highway 20/Barclay Drive and Highway 20/Locust Street is a hot topic of debate.

Carey Tosello, a member of the recent TSP Advisory Committee, advocates for roundabouts.

"Roundabouts are safer. Ever heard of a fatality at a roundabout? The Arizona Department of Transportation reports that roundabouts reduce injury accidents by 75 percent and fatal accidents by 90 percent. They also increase efficient traffic flow up to 50 percent. They help the environment by reducing carbon emissions by double digits, and they decrease fuel consumption by as much as 30 percent," said Tosello.

Brad Boyd, former mayor, who was involved with the present TSP Advisory Committee, believes roundabouts will not happen in Sisters.

"Any roundabouts incorporated into the design of the alternate route would have to be larger and wider to accommodate truck traffic. These aren't the little roundabouts you see in west Bend, these have to accommodate big trucks. Roundabouts are not ODOT's first choice; there's a reason there's only one roundabout on a state highway and that's in Astoria," said Boyd.

"The alternate route would function with either signals or roundabouts, although the traffic engineers are recommending signals at each intersection with Highway 20 (Barclay and Locust) and a roundabout at the intersection of Barclay and Locust," said Eric Porter.

Jeff England, TSP advisory committee member, wants the public to continue to weigh in on the issue.

"I'm concerned that we need to show the public the plusses, minuses, and costs of roundabouts versus signals to gauge their reactions," said England.

The latest draft TSP plan also includes bike and pedestrian "safe routes" that complement the vehicular road improvements.

Commenting on the need for safer pedestrian crossing on a wider Locust Street, Trisha Liddell said, "I walk to school with my two elementary school children and I'd like to see a safe pedestrian crossing zone on Locust..."

Oregon Department of Transportation funding will be a huge factor in the implementation of the final TSP plan.

"The view is that a solid TSP (plan), supported strongly by the community, would be a plus in obtaining ODOT funding," said TSP advisory committee member Chuck Humphreys.

Construction on the alternate route is not likely to start until 2012, given overall acceptance of the TSP plan by the city and ODOT. This was another reason the committee favored the alternate route, feeling it's used effectively right now during heavy traffic periods.

ODOT will be a major contributor as will the City of Sisters' SDCs (System Development Charges) for new development. With the local economy still in recession and new construction basically at a standstill, funding could be a major hurdle.

Sisters’ transportation planning is a stop-and-start process

Transportation system planning has gone through several starts and stops for almost nine years in Sisters - and actually dates back further than that.

Debate in Sisters over couplet vs. bypass solutions to traffic congestion in downtown Sisters dates back to the 1980s.

In 2001, as the city was on the verge of a growth surge, the first Transportation System Plan (TSP) was prepared by David Evans & Associates. This study, funded by an ODOT (Oregon Department of Transportation) Transportation Growth Management Grant, relied on the findings of a committee comprised of citizens, council members, and representatives from ODOT.

This was also when the city's new sewer system was being developed, so many issues dealing with looming growth were before the city council.

Although the city had a Comprehensive Plan in place, a higher priority was placed on developing the city's development code, which provided day-to-day guidance on proposed building plans. The city knew it was about to start growing quickly and wanted to be ready.

The 2001 TSP addressed many of the same issues that the 2007/2009 draft plan is addressing today. The goals included creating "pressure relief" in the present road system by linking roads that were presently not linked and creating more ways to get around the city without relying on Highway 20.

The 2001 committee, as did the 2009 committee, studied bypasses around the city. Like the 2001 TSP, two "close-in" bypasses, one north and one south of town were considered, and then dropped for cost reasons.

The 2001 study's recommended solution was a "couplet improvement" costing approximately $2M. This solution also had ODOT's support, feeling this might be a viable long-term solution for Sisters.

But the couplet never happened. ODOT essentially told the city they had good "ideas" for transportation changes - but not an "adopted plan" that could be placed in the regional budget for evaluation and consideration.

There were a couple of usable outcomes from the 2001 TSP. The extension of Barclay Drive to Highway 20 and the extension of Jefferson Street east to Highway 20 are examples of pressure relief for Cascade Avenue, providing alternative routes for locals to avoid the heavily traveled roads.

In 2002, Eileen Stein became Sisters City Manager and began pushing the idea of the couplet with ODOT and the city.

"ODOT said we needed to put in place a 'refinement plan' for the TSP's couplet idea. So the TSP evolved into the Couplet Refinement Plan (CRP) during 2003-2004," Stein said.

This involved another committee, including some members from the original TSP committee, who would spend the next two years evaluating various couplet configurations. Funding for this study was provided by a Forest Service Community Assistance Grant.

The final CRP revolved around a Hood Avenue/Main Avenue couplet, with ODOT acquiring these roads as highways and Cascade Avenue becoming a city-owned street.

But this was not meant to be, either. The CRP was never fully adopted by the city council at the time. Council member turnover, combined with shifting political winds doomed the plan.

And then ODOT rejected the CRP, feeling that it would create an unsafe situation as drivers entered Sisters. ODOT felt the option to turn right, to access the couplet, would compete with a driver's natural instinct to want to continue straight on Cascade, thus creating an unsafe situation.

This meant that if Sisters wanted to create the couplet it would have to be entirely funded by city dollars. Cascade would remain a state highway. The CRP was dead.

By late 2005/2006 the couplet issue bubbled to the surface again. Funding was budgeted for a new TSP process, this time paid for through the city's finances, and a committee was once again formed to study the options.

The latest committee started meeting in late 2007, and all road improvements began to be studied. Bypasses around the city, as well as couplet options, were reviewed and discussed by the committee with the help of DKS Associates, an outside consulting engineering firm.