Three-way stop in Deschutes River Woods to stay put

A three-way stop in Deschutes River Woods that was meant to be a short-term fix is now staying put.

Stop signs originally were put at the intersection of Brookswood Boulevard and Baker Road to help traffic while another nearby area was under construction. Three years later, they’re still there.

At a work session Wednesday, Deschutes County commissioners were checking in on whether they’ve made the situation better or worse. The director of the county Road Department presented them with data that prove the three-way stop is, in fact, good for peoples’ safety.

“From 2013 to 2015, there were six crashes in and around the intersection,” Chris Doty said. “From 2015 to 2017, we haven’t had a reported crash.”

The three-way stop was installed in 2015. Doty said people were giving his department positive feedback, even asking to make the three-way stop a permanent fixture.

NewsChannel 21 spoke with several people in the Deschutes River Woods area to find their opinions about the intersection were generally positive.

“At first it was annoying. I think at this point, it’s probably better to have that stop sign than not, for safety reasons,” a Bend man said. “We have a lot of people driving out from Brookswood, and I just don’t have a problem with it at this point.”

At the end of the work session, they said that other than some people’s negative opinions, they saw no reason to take the stop signs down right now.

One resident did point out an intersection problem farther down the road, where Highway 97 exits at Baker Road.

“Literally right out here, there are multiple wrecks, sometimes daily, throughout the week,” Leasa Wallace said. She’s the owner of Goldie’s Espresso, which sits in front of that intersection. Wallace said it’s a nightmare to watch all the accidents.

“Somebody’s going to end up getting pretty hurt if they don’t fix that portion,” she said.

In response to these concerns, Doty said, “Any intersection with a highway is going to have higher speeds, higher volumes, that sort of thing. So that’ll be another problem we’ll have to address some time in the future.”

He later explained to NewsChannel 21 that there’s no plan to look at that intersection as of now, but that doesn’t mean officials won’t look into it down the road.