Asphalt option a 'go' on Cascade Avenue

With one dissenting vote, the Sisters City Council has endorsed a plan for Cascade Avenue renovation that the city, Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the downtown merchants believe they can live with. The council vote was 4-1 in recommending that "Plan B," the asphalt alternative for rebuild of Cascade Avenue, should move forward.

The vote was not specifically about choosing concrete or asphalt. The issue has always been about the schedule and phasing of the project to completely rebuild the Highway 20 roadbed through downtown Sisters.

There has never been a serious objection to the need for the project, and most if not all the constituents agreed that in the 20- to 40-year view, concrete had some notable advantages. The problem was the economic impact of Plan A's proposed complete five-month shutdown of Highway 20/Cascade Avenue through the heart of Sisters' retail zone. The length of the shutdown was related to the requirements of construction with concrete.

Oregon Department of Transportation worked with the city council, City Manager Eileen Stein and an organized and focused merchant group to come up with a last-minute but well-conceived and thoroughly vetted plan that all could live with.

All parties acknowledge that the nine-month project with its rolling blockages, night work and detours will be difficult. But a sizeable majority is convinced that Plan B is much better than the alternatives of doing Plan A or doing nothing. The Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce was an active participant in the decision process, and is promising some creative marketing solutions to minimize the impact on the local merchants.

Councilor David Asson cast the lone dissenting vote.

"I think this is going to hurt the merchants more than they think," he said.

Asson believes that the first impression of a visitor when they see any type of construction zone will be to drive on. In his reasoning, since there will likely be construction activity on Cascade Avenue for nine months with Plan B rather than five months with Plan A, the cumulative effect will be worse with Plan B.

That view, however, runs counter to the overwhelming preference of the merchants themselves, and it gained no traction with the rest of the council, which elected to move forward with the asphalt option. Preliminary construction work is expected to commence in September 2013.