News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
It may not be a "done deal," but the Oregon Department of Transportation has a clear preference for installing a roundabout at the intersection of Highway 20 and Barclay Drive at the west end of Sisters.
ODOT is seeking "concurrence" from the City of Sisters in moving forward with a design for the roundabout, which the City indicated in 2011 was the preferred control mechanism for that intersection.
In the intervening years, ODOT worked with the freight industry to ensure that a roundabout on a state highway can accommodate large trucks. They brought truckers in Central Oregon and the Portland area out to run a mock-up of the proposed design in two separate events this year, and the design passed muster.
Representatives of ODOT brought video of those tests and data from four years of study to Sisters City Hall for an informational open house on April 14 and presented them to a packed house of Sisters citizens - some of whom were clearly skeptical.
Queried about whether the roundabout is a "done deal," Gary Farnsworth of ODOT emphasized that the agency is still in the input-gathering phase.
"We've got a lot of concurrence, but we've still got a long way to go," Farnsworth said.
However, all the speakers clearly believe a roundabout is the best solution for the intersection.
The primary rationale is safety. Reducing speed through that intersection to around 25 miles per hour is expected to make the intersection more safe.
Engineers presented data that roundabouts reduce both the number and severity of accidents as opposed to a STOP-controlled intersection or a signal-controlled intersection. According to information presented by Scott Beard of the engineering firm Kittelson & Associates, Inc., both STOP- and signal-controlled intersections average about five crashes per year with 1.8 or 1.7 respectively resulting in injury or fatality. A roundabout reduces that number to 2.8 crashes with 0.3 resulting in injury or death.
According to Beard, that's probably due to a reduced number of potential points of collision in a roundabout and the manner in which cars enter and navigate one. Accidents generally take the form of side-swipes as a vehicle enters a roundabout inappropriately. Such accidents also occur at slow speed. That results in property damage, but not much injury.
ODOT representatives have the lofty goal of eliminating fatalities on Oregon highways, and they don't think signals help them do that. They believe roundabouts will.
That begs a question - which one audience member shouted out - as to why ODOT just installed a signal on Highway 97 at La Pine. Joel McCarroll of ODOT said that the circumstances there were different, though he did not specify in what way, and Beard noted that that project had gotten well underway before questions about the viability of a roundabout for the freight industry had been resolved.
Some in the audience questioned why the Barclay intersection is getting more attention and quicker action than the Locust Street/Highway 20 intersection, which is adjacent to Sisters Elementary School.
ODOT noted that there have been significantly more accidents at the Barclay intersection. However, City Manager Andrew Gorayeb said that "we have been in ODOT's ear for a while about getting something at Locust and the highway."
Gorayeb noted that that area requires "a more complicated set of solutions" because the merger of Highway 126/Highway 20 is nearby, as is the Buckaroo Trail entrance to FivePine and the highway weigh station. He noted that the right-turn lane that was installed as part of the Cascade Avenue rehabilitation project has made a significant improvement.
It will ultimately be up to the Sisters City Council to formally concur with ODOT's design and move the project forward. Some local residents want to see some kind of referendum on a signal vs. a roundabout, while others want to see the City move forward in the direction it decided upon in 2011.
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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