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Sisters, ODOT working on plans for new Hwy. 20-Locust Street roundabout

Improvements have been on the city's radar for years; funding still sought

SISTERS, Ore. (KTVZ) -- It's been about 12 years since the City of Sisters and the Oregon Department of Transportation first eyed improvements to ease traffic issues at the busy intersection of Locust Street and US Highway 20.

“Safety is always on our radar," Gary Farnsworth, ODOT's regional manager for Central Oregon, said Wednesday. "Any time we have an intersection like this one, with a lot of traffic and people coming from different directions, we are concerned.”

The intersection does not meet ODOT standards, which means the intersection sees more traffic than what it can handle.

The planned solution -- a roundabout -- will cost the city and ODOT more than $4 million which at the moment is a problem.

“We don’t really know where the funding sources will come from," Farnsworth said. "Where the funding sources will come from or how they will come about.”

Farnsworth did not say if there was a timeline goal, but did tell NewsChannel 21 on Wednesday that the city will continue working on the planning stages over the next year.

It would be the second traffic circle for downtown Sisters, a few years after ODOT completed the one at the intersection of Highway 20 and Barclay Drive/McKinney Butte Road.

Farnsworth said that roundabout has indeed helped traffic flow, with no serious crashes reported at the intersection since it was installed.

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Jordan Williams

Jordan Williams is a multimedia journalist for NewsChannel 21. Learn more about Jordan here.

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