Cascade Avenue project set to roll

The content and schedule for the Cascade Avenue upgrade project is finally settled. Nighttime construction begins in August of this year.

At a Wednesday "report back" meeting at Sisters City Hall the team comprised of city staff, ODOT, architects, Green Works Design and local merchants, agreed to move forward. Several years of planning meetings, some heated conversations, and an 11th-hour "revolt" in August by a group of downtown merchants led to this final meeting. The merchants were concerned with their very survival during what was a planned five-month full closure of Cascade Avenue.

That plan has been significantly revised. The five-month total shutdown morphed to a three-block rolling closure, and the roadway construction material was changed from concrete to asphalt.

Wednesday marked the final public meeting before the construction contract is awarded, and the atmosphere was cordial, respectful and informative. At the close of the meeting, Kathryn Leavitt requested and received a round of applause from the audience for ODOT, the architecture firm Sera, Green Works and the city staff for their hard work and "listening skills" in coming to a workable agreement.

"I just want to say thank you," said Leavitt, who had been an early critic of the planning process. "This is such a much-better outlook. You are working with us now. Even though there is still going to be a little disruption, it is nothing like it was going to be."

City Manager Eileen Stein said to the audience of merchants, "Thank you for speaking up when you did ... and thank you for staying engaged. ODOT will leave and we will be left with this beautiful streetscape."

During December and January Sera architects and Green Works conducted one-on-one meetings with over 35 property owners and merchants. The team has had numerous construction strategy sessions since August. The results presented on Wednesday included a radically revised highway construction plan, a completely reworked master schedule, and a significantly revised streetscape plan.

Sera's Matt Arnold reported that there were two basic concerns remaining: Street trees blocking business signage from the view of automobile travelers, and the loss of on-street parking, primarily on Cascade Avenue.

Arnold also reported working with the team to clarify the purpose of the curb extensions and planters. He explained that they are a required part of the extensive drywell system ODOT is installing to handle stormwater runoff on Cascade Avenue to relieve ponding. The curb extensions also improve pedestrian safety. They more clearly signal a pedestrian's intention to cross, and they decrease the crossing distance by about 16 feet. The narrowing of the street at the extensions or bulb-outs also helps to "calm" traffic.

Arnold noted that the Cascade Avenue project is in line with the National Main Street Organization's criteria for a vibrant downtown corridor: Human-scale buildings; healthy businesses; wide, well-lit sidewalks; slow traffic for safe street-crossing; and places to sit and gather.

Maintenance responsibilities will also be clarified as part of this project.

At the conclusion of the project, ODOT will be responsible for the maintenance of the roadway between the curbs. The city will be responsible for the streetscape and all of its elements between the curb and the private property line, including the upkeep of the trees and ground cover. The street lights will be on a city circuit and timer.

The business owners will be responsible for leaf litter, and the city is working on a coordinated snow removal plan involving ODOT, city equipment and private contractors.

ODOT project leader Mike Darling indicated that his team has secured full funding for the project. They will be preparing the final bid specification over the next several months. The bid requests will be released in March, and the bid will be awarded on May 23.

Actual nighttime construction on the project will begin in August 2013.

Along with an updated schedule, Darling shared a succinct statement clarifying the nighttime construction work schedule that will be required of the contractor: "Standard Night Time Limitation of Operations Definition: No work on Cascade Avenue during the day. Contractor limited to working between 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. starting Sunday at 9 p.m. and ending Friday at 6 a.m. No work on weekends between 6 a.m. Friday and 9 p.m. Sunday. During the day, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., no lane restrictions, both travel lanes are fully open to traffic."

All construction activities will cease from November 16 through January 1, 2014 at the merchant's request.

Night work will resume January 2, 2014 and continue until March 1, 2014 at which time the Cascade Avenue detour will be put in place with a rolling three-block closure of Cascade Avenue. The detour will remain in place until no later than May 30, 2014. The contractor will incur significant penalties if the detour phase is not complete by May 30.

When the detour is in place, construction activities will no longer be restricted to nighttime work. After May 30 the Standard Night Time Limitation will remain in effect until the project is complete, with another construction break scheduled for November 15 to January 1, 2014 if needed.

During the detour all eastbound Highway 20 freight traffic will be diverted to Barclay Drive. A temporary demand-activated stoplight will aid the trucks for the left turn from Highway 20 to Barclay. Freight traffic will rejoin Highway 20 at Locust Street (some form of traffic control will be provided by ODOT).

East-bound automobile traffic will be diverted onto Hood Avenue, rejoining Highway 20/Cascade Avenue just beyond the rolling three-block closure.

Westbound freight traffic will be diverted onto Locust and will rejoin Highway 20 at the Barclay interchange. Westbound automobile traffic will be diverted onto Main and then back onto Cascade to avoid the rolling three-block closure.

The city will be constructing a major upgrade of the Barclay/Locust intersection prior to the implementation of the freight traffic detour.

ODOT will position and maintain reader boards at the eastbound and westbound detour sites to keep motorists up to date.

ODOT will be hiring a full time construction liaison located in Sisters to coordinate information flow between the city, the merchants, the contractor and ODOT.