The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

The recent approval by the state of a proposed city road project could spell relief for local drivers frustrated by traffic congestion on Cascade Avenue. It may also help the area's largest employer with its expansion plans.

On September 20, the Oregon Department of Transportation awarded $700,000 to the city for the Barclay Road Extension project. According to the plan, the new road will cut through the 80-acre tract of US Forest Service land within the city's Urban Growth Boundary. It is projected to connect Pine Street to Highway 126/20, just west of Sisters.

The new road would provide an alternate route for drivers seeking to avoid the city's busiest thoroughfare -- and it could also assist Multnomah Publishers.

Don Jacobson, the head of the 114-employee Christian publishing house headquartered in Sisters, has petitioned the city council at its last two meetings for help in acquiring a parcel of Forest Service land alongside the proposed road site.

If the company succeeded in acquiring the 20-acre parcel, the planned road would, in the words of City Planner Neil Thompson, "...be in their (Multnomah's) front yard."

The ODOT-funded road project could, in fact, save Multnomah a considerable sum of money.

Thompson said that, customarily, "If you're the first (developer) out of the box and creating a demand...you're responsible for putting in the road and (responsible) for the cost."

In submitting the proposal, Sisters City Planner Thompson said "the proposal had to satisfy the state Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) that the city would regulate future uses along the proposed road site.

"We had to reassure them (LCDC) ..., that we'd regulate uses...to not degrade the level of service -- such as in the future to approve a strip development," Thompson said.

Multnomah's plan, as submitted to the city council, details but one access point along the route.

Thompson said the new road will be substantially larger than Forest Service Road 100, which it will replace. The road will eventually flow into McKenzie Butte Road.

"It will have two (automobile) travel lanes, and bike lanes, as well as pedestrian facilities," Thompson said. "The pavement will extend 36 or 38 feet but I'm not sure yet if it will include sidewalks attached with curbs or separated (from the roadway) by swales."

Additionally, a map of future road construction showed a stoplight at the junction of the new road with the highway which, Thompson said, should be necessary within 10 years.

Thompson said the process of obtaining ODOT funding was "...very competitive -- only four of 18 or 19 projects submitted from our Region 4 were funded."

The state funds, according to the planner, have a specific time frame.

"The contracts have to be let, and the money committed, within a year," Thompson said.

Thompson said the city applied last year to the Forest Service for a permit to allow the road to cross its land.

Finally, he said an environmental impact (EIS) statement remains to be prepared.