14
Wednesday, August 5, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
ROuNdAbOuT: Safety
is top benefit of
roundabout
Continued from page 1
knowledge, an unprecedented
amount of one-on-one, very
detailed outreach,” said City
Manager Andrew Gorayeb.
“They’ve done an unbeliev-
able job on this.”
The Sisters community,
in a detailed public process,
chose back in 2011 to pursue
a roundabout as the preferred
traffic-control measure at the
Barclay/Highway 20 inter-
section. Since then, ODOT
has been pursuing that route.
A key element of determining
the viability of a roundabout
at that location was buy-in
from the state’s freight indus-
try. On-the-ground tests of
a mock roundabout layout
earned that buy-in and ODOT
is prepared to move forward
as soon as the City of Sisters
signs an intergovernmen-
tal agreement to launch the
project.
Farnsworth told The
Nugget that he is no evange-
list for roundabouts; in fact,
he was originally agnostic as
to what traffic-control method
was to be used at the intersec-
tion. But he’s now convinced
that the roundabout is the way
to go.
“I have come to understand
that this is a viable and prob-
ably a preferable option,” he
said.
And Sisters isn’t really a
guinea pig; roundabouts are
increasingly being installed
across the U.S., as noted in a
story in The New York Times
on July 30.
“Once seen only in coun-
tries like France and Britain,
the roundabout, favored by
traffic engineers because it
cuts congestion and reduces
collisions and deaths, is
experiencing rapid growth in
the United States,” the story
notes. (A link to the story
may be found with the online
version of this story at www.
nuggetnews.com.)
The key element is safety.
National and international
statistics show fewer acci-
dents at roundabouts and a
significantly lower level of
severity due to slower speeds
and eliminating head-on col-
lisions and T-bone accidents.
And that goes for pedestrians
and cyclists as well as autos.
According to ODOT’s
research, “when signalized
intersections are converted
to roundabouts, there is a 48
percent reduction in crashes,
and 78 percent reduction in
crashes resulting in at least
an injury. This is because
overall speeds are drastically
reduced, and there are many
less ‘conflict points’ (for all
modes), with roundabouts.”
Farnsworth acknowledged
that some in Sisters have con-
cerns that a roundabout will
be a new mode for many driv-
ers, especially some of the
older folks who live nearby
and use that intersection. A
number of those drivers are
very comfortable with a traf-
fic signal (like the temporary
signal that was up during
Cascade Avenue construc-
tion) and would just as soon
see a traffic light in place.
That concern, Farnsworth
said, is one reason why
ODOT has determined to
keep the roundabout at one
lane so as to make it as easy
to navigate as possible. He
also believes that drivers will
appreciate the reductions in
speed at the intersection.
“That fear and that con-
cern are real,” he said, “but
(research is) emphasizing
the fact that roundabouts are
extremely effective at getting
people to slow down.”
Farnsworth notes that
no one is arguing that a sig-
nal is a terrible idea or that a
roundabout is a magic solu-
tion to all of Sisters’ traffic
problems.
“This isn’t about one is
absolutely bad and one is
absolutely good,” he said.
Summer holiday weekends
often see traffic stacking up,
sometimes out to Tollgate and
beyond in the eastbound lane
and on Sundays westbound
traffic backs up well to the
east of town. A traffic signal
and a roundabout are about
equal in terms of their effec-
tiveness at moving traffic
— and both are better than a
stop sign. Neither will allevi-
ate traffic stacking that, so far
this summer, has also been
evident on regular weekdays.
“It’s not a complete
fix, but it’s better than the
stop control we have now,”
Farnsworth said.
And a roundabout is
not a fix to other problems.
Farnsworth acknowledged
that he’s received many que-
ries as to why there is a proj-
ect in the works for Barclay/
Highway 20 when Locust
and Highway 20 is at least
as problematic an intersec-
tion (though Barclay has seen
more accidents).
The Locust/Hwy. 20 is,
indeed a problematic inter-
section. Anyone who has
waited there to make an east-
bound left-hand turn onto the
highway can tell you that.
It’s also an extremely com-
plicated intersection to “fix.”
Highway 126 merges into it
and there is an entrance/exit
to FivePine and the Creekside
Campground just down the
road, along with the entrance
to the mobile-home park.
That intersection just isn’t
going to get fixed anytime
soon.
“The
Locust/20
intersection is going to
be much more expensive,
much more complicated,
much more challenging than
Barclay/20,” Farnsworth said.
To deal with traffic stack-
ing, traffic through town and
the problem of the Locust/20
intersection, the City of
Sisters and ODOT are going
to have to work harder at traf-
fic management, Farnsworth
believes.
“We need something dif-
ferent than just adding infra-
structure to help manage the
dynamics we have in this
environment,” he said.
Gorayeb agrees.
“We need to be more pro-
active about managing traffic
instead of just watching it go
by,” he said.
Cost of infrastructure is
another question that fre-
quently arises. Many assume
that a signal would be both
cheaper and have a much
smaller footprint. Yet, accord-
ing to ODOT, the footprint
and the bill are pretty close
to equal. A signal would
require a very long left turn
lane to accommodate all that
stacking, which expands the
footprint.
ODOT does not have a
current estimate on a signal’s
cost, because they have been
pursing the roundabout as
requested by the City in 2011.
See rouNdABout on page 18