NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 2019
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A9
Public divided on ‘road diet’ in Stanfi eld
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
STANFIELD
—
Oregon
Department of Transportation
employees worked hard on Thurs-
day to convince Stanfi eld resi-
dents they would benefi t from hav-
ing fewer lanes on Highway 395
through town, but there were still
skeptics in the crowd.
One man argued with engineers
for several minutes in the middle
of the presentation before storm-
ing out of the meeting.
“If nothing’s broken why are
you trying to fi x it?” he asked
before leaving.
During 2021 ODOT plans to
grind the top 2 inches off of High-
way 395 from Hermiston through
Stanfi eld and replace it with new
pavement. As part of the project,
funded through ODOT’s general
fund, they will be adding bulb-
outs at crosswalks, ADA-compli-
ant wheelchair ramps and other
improvements through Stanfi eld.
The department has proposed
a “road diet” through downtown
Stanfi eld as well, taking Highway
395 down from fi ve lanes to three.
The curb-to-curb width of the
highway would remain the same,
but the road would be re-striped to
include a center turn lane and one
travel lane in each direction instead
of two. The extra space would turn
into bike lanes and wider parking.
Project manager Bryan Strasser
said ultimately the decision was
up to the city — ODOT wouldn’t
force it on the community if the
city council voted no. But he said
Conceptual drawing by ODOT
This conceptual drawing on display at a Stanfi eld community meeting shows how three lanes in downtown
Stanfi eld might look.
they felt a responsibility to share
what the engineering and research
showed was the best option.
“If we lived here we would
want it done,” he said.
He and engineer Kevin Haas
described benefi ts ODOT had seen
in other road diets, including Mil-
ton-Freewater, Cave Junction, Port
Orford and Ashland.
Haas said there had been a 19%
to 47% reduction in crashes where
the number of lanes had been
reduced. People weren’t trying to
make lefthand turns over so many
lanes, they weren’t sideswiping
each other and pedestrians weren’t
in as much danger of being hit
when one vehicle stopped for them
but another tried to pass because
they didn’t see the pedestrian.
He said other cities had been
skeptical too, but found traffi c
actually fl owed better with the sin-
gle lane in each direction and now
people were thanking ODOT for
the change.
A couple of attendees voiced
their support of the proposal, refer-
encing the safety of their children
walking to school and the oppor-
tunities for drivers to notice local
businesses if they slow down.
Others, including city council-
ors and the mayor, asked detailed
questions during the two-hour
meeting and expressed concerns
that the proposed change would
create a bottleneck and make it
more diffi cult for residents pull-
ing out onto the highway. Coun-
cilor Scott Challis asked whether
the other communities has as short
of city blocks on their highway as
Stanfi eld, or as much truck traffi c.
“With the short blocks and
heavy trucks we’re going to have
some backup. ... Not trying to
bring you down, but I think we
have a different scenario here,” he
said.
Others said much of the traf-
fi c through Stanfi eld was com-
muter traffi c, and they didn’t want
to unnecessarily delay people on
the way to their jobs. Mayor Tom
McCaan also said he wasn’t sure
two lanes would actually slow
people down, and referenced his
days on the police force decades
ago when Highway 395 was only
two lanes.
“We’d catch people going
through at 70 miles per hour in the
middle of the day,” he said.
Haas said the brief road diet
through the center of Stanfi eld
would be a much different scenario
than the old two-lane days. The
center turn lane would keep peo-
ple from getting backed up behind
someone trying to turn, and he said
people should get less impatient
when the three-lane confi guration
was only for about a mile instead
of “making people wait 20 miles
to pass a truck.”
ODOT is leaving the choice of
a road diet up to the city of Stan-
fi eld — a decision city council-
ors have yet to make. Challis said
he was asking so many questions
because he was trying to make an
informed decision.
“I want to commend you guys
— the council, staff and general
public — because you’re asking
the right questions,” Haas said.
He encouraged them to speak
with Milton-Freewater city offi -
cials about how they liked their
new road diet, and also reminded
the council that the striping would
be relatively easy to undo if the
new confi guration didn’t work out.
Greater Hermiston Community Foundation looks forward to giving
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
W
hen the Greater
Hermiston Com-
munity Founda-
tion started a little more
than a year ago, its found-
ers weren’t sure how long
it would take before they
could start the fun part: giv-
ing away money.
That part is almost here.
The foundation plans to
take applications this fall
and award its fi rst grants in
early 2020 after hitting the
$200,000 mark earlier this
year.
“That was a huge mile-
stone,” vice-chair Nate
Rivera said. “We were
thrilled to reach that goal in
that timeline.”
The Greater Hermiston
Community Foundation is
a 501©3 charity started by
Hermiston residents who
wanted to help people give
back to the community in
a lasting way. The founda-
tion’s main component is
an endowment fund, where
money will be held in trust
and the interest earned from
the fund will perpetually
generate money for commu-
nity projects.
The GHCF will also
be able to open separate
accounts to collect direct
donations for specifi c proj-
ects. For example, once the
city of Hermiston is ready to
actively solicit donations for
the rebuild of Funland Play-
ground, the foundation will
collect tax-exempt dona-
tions and pass 100% of the
money on to the city. The
account will be an option
for large corporations and
others that have policies
against giving directly to
cities to avoid a confl ict of
interest.
Board treasurer Dennis
Barnett said those involved
in the foundation made the
commitment to donate time,
website costs, printing and
all other overhead costs
in-kind instead of using
money from donations.
“There’s not a dollar of
administration in this,” he
said. “No overhead.”
Barnett said in addition
to donations the foundation
has in hand, a few of Herm-
iston’s more well-off current
and former residents have
also written the foundation
into their will. He said the
time for a bequeathment
opportunity like the GHCF
is ripe, given the timeline of
how the city has grown.
“We will have a lot of
wealth that will be transi-
tioning for the fi rst time in
Hermiston,” he said.
While there are local
foundations that focus on
specifi c areas, such as health
or education, the Greater
Hermiston Foundation will
be more broad in scope.
Rivera said they will be
looking more toward brick-
and-mortar projects than
events to make the most
impact in the greater Herm-
iston area.
“We have a lot of fl exi-
bility in what we can fund,”
he said.
The board will come up
with an application form
and list of criteria this fall,
then award its fi rst grant
in early 2020. Their next
fundraising goal is to take
the endowment fund up to
$500,000.
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