City may make drivers slow down in neighborhoods

Drivers may soon head a 20 mph speed limit in all of Sisters’ neighborhoods. That’s one of the recommendations from a recently conducted traffic safety audit.

At their December 8 meeting, City Council approved Ordinance 519, making amendments to the City’s Transportation System Plan (TSP). The primary focus of the 2021 amendments to the 2018 TSP includes extending the Sisters planning horizon from 2030 to 2040 to be consistent with the City’s newly adopted Comprehensive Plan, and codifying solutions to safety issues raised in the recently completed traffic safety audit.

Recommendations from the safety audit include:

•?Pursue a citywide speed reduction to 20 mph in all residential zones.

•?Incorporate multiuse pathway standards into the public works standards and specifications.

•?Standardize school zone treatments.

•?Ask ODOT to measure how fast drivers are entering Sisters from county roads. Many people in the city would like to see speed zones extended farther out from the city limits.

•?Make an all-way stop on Main Avenue at North Larch Street and evaluate potential all-way stops at North Fir and North Elm streets.

•?Speed bumps or other devices to make drivers slow down along Jefferson Avenue, Elm Street, Fir Street, Adams Avenue, and Pine Street.

•?Installation of digital driver feedback signs on US 20/126 on both the east and west entrances to town.

Additional areas of concern that have been addressed and will possibly be instituted with these amendments include:

•?Encouraging electric vehicle and other non-internal combustion engine (ICE) technologies, including review of City fleet vehicles’ ability to transition to electric when seeking replacements.

•?Use technology to ensure a more efficient alternate route system that will better connect the transportation system with highways running through town. Directional signage should be used to encourage trucks and through motorists to use the alternate route, with travel time comparisons.

•?Manage the concentration of schools on the west side of Sisters so that they do not overwhelm the transportation system and connections to Highway 20.

•?Work with ODOT to monitor and manage speeds and speed zones on all highways running through town.

•?Update the Safe Routes to School Plan due to the relocation of the elementary school.