Wednesday, March 11, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
City set to scrap back-in parking
The much-reviled reverse-
angle parking on Main
Avenue should be gone
by the time Sisters Rodeo
rides into town — assuming
everything goes according to
schedule.
Reversing the unpopular
parking mode is not as sim-
ple as sanding off old strip-
ping and painting new lines.
It requires an amendment
to the City’s comprehen-
sive plan and Transportation
System Plan (TSP), which
in turn requires notifying the
State of Oregon and holding
hearings before the planning
commission.
The decision process that
resulted in back-in park-
ing started with the require-
ments of the Cascade Avenue
Project. In order to complete
the Cascade Avenue Project
as designed, the City applied
for and received a variance
from the state (approved by
the freight lobby) to reduce
the width of Cascade Avenue
to 14 feet from the normally
required 16 feet.
The narrower Cascade
roadway did not allow ade-
quate space for the TSP-
required bike lanes. Through
aggressive grant-writing,
the City and ODOT were
able to get grants to upgrade
the roadway, parking and
sidewalks on Main Avenue
which would allow sufficient
width for the requisite bike
lanes while at the same time
significantly improving the
parking, sidewalks, curbs and
landscaping on Main.
Although it was not a
requirement of the Main
Avenue grants, there was a
strong indication that grant
applications that included
bike lanes with back-in
parking would be given
preference. The understand-
ing is that Sisters won the
grant based in part on back-
in parking along the bike
route.
Back-in parking was
completed in summer 2012.
It was never popular and is
regarded by an overwhelm-
ing percentage of locals as
a bizarre boondoggle. Many
visitors do not understand
what is required, and the
directional parking stalls
make it look like Main
Avenue is a one-way street,
which has occasionally led
to people driving down the
wrong traffic lane.
It’s questionable as to
whether the bike safety the
innovation was supposed to
support ever materialized.
Several people have said
they believe that the back-
in parking makes the bike-
lane much less safe. They
report that when they bike on
Hood Avenue — with head-
in diagonal parking — cars
backing out are easier to spot
because their back up lights
are on, and, because they
can’t see the traffic, they are
backing out very slowly and
cautiously.
By contrast, merchants
and cyclists alike reported
that most legal back-in park-
ers exit their space quickly
and have on a number of
occasions “scattered” cyclists
in the bike lane. The driv-
ers are apparently looking
for cars, and do not see the
bicycles moving quickly
and close-in to the parking
lane, where the bike lane is
located.
In any case, it appears that
the three-year experiment in
parking innovation will soon
be consigned to the ash heap
of history.
7
A day at the capitol...
photo provided
Maddie Busick, Christopher lundgren, Skylar Wilkins and
Sydney Wilkins of Black Butte School visited the state capitol
March 2 and were sworn in as honorary pages in the House of
Representatives. they worked on the House floor, attended
hearings, and met with Rep. Huffman (pictured) and Sen. ferrioli.
www.NuggetNews.com
Spring
Clearance
Sale!
ALL Nikibikis
Sarah Rybka, Owner/Technician
473 W. Hood Ave., Ste. 101
40% OFF!