News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The temporary traffic signal at Barclay Drive and Highway 20 is scheduled to be deactivated Monday as construction on Cascade Avenue wraps up. Some folks would like to see the signal stay, feeling that it makes the intersection safer (Click here for Letters to the Editor).
But a permanent signal is not in the plans for that intersection. A roundabout is still the form of traffic control favored by the City of Sisters and the Oregon Department of Transportation.
While many locals negotiating that intersection feel safer crossing the highway than they did when the intersection was controlled only by stop signs on Barclay/McKinney Butte, ODOT doesn't like having a stop-sign on the state highway.
"It is very much our opinion that stoplights on highways are dangerous," ODOT spokesman Peter Murphy told The Nugget.
The concern is for the potential of rear-end crashes, he said.
The Sisters roundabout has a high place on the list of projects to be funded through the Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP). The STIP sets aside $1.4 million for the project, Murphy noted. Sisters should know this winter whether that funding stays in place. Some right-of-way would have to be acquired for the project. The likely timeframe for roundabout construction is 2016, according to Murphy.
"The when is indeterminate," he said.
Meanwhile, ODOT is in discussions with representatives of the trucking industry. Since there is only one other roundabout on a highway in the state, the industry is interested in ensuring that such a construction can readily accommodate truck traffic.
The Central Oregon regional and area managers for ODOT met with industry representatives last Thursday. Nothing definitive was expected to come from the discussions yet.
"They are discussing with the trucking industry how a proposed roundabout might look," Murphy told The Nugget.
Points of discussion include fitting a regular 18-wheeler through the intersection - and accommodating extra-long "super-loads" that occasionally run down Highway 20 on a permit basis.
The question, Murphy says, is "how would the roundabout accommodate this kind of superload."
So for a couple more days, Sisters drivers will use the temporary signal at the Barclay Drive intersection. Then the intersection will revert back to what it was before - with stop signs on the cross streets and no control device on the east-west highway.
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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