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Randy Lunsford, who owns Ferguson’s Market, stands on a new sidewalk Tuesday in Terrebonne. Lunsford and others worry about the safety of sidewalks crossing driveways.
Rob Kerr
The Bulletin
Sidewalk irks business owners
ODOT project in Terrebonne is dangerous, some say
By Patrick Cliff / The Bulletin
Published: September 09. 2009 4:00AM PSTTERREBONNE — Residents here have long worried about traffic as it raced through town on U.S. Highway 97, which splits the community in two. They asked the Oregon Department of Transportation for help, specifically a stoplight.
But ODOT tries not to put stoplights on highways, aiming for other solutions. In Terrebonne, ODOT planned about one-tenth of a mile of sidewalk on the east side of the highway and new curbs instead, hoping those measures would slow traffic.
The project is now under construction, and the sidewalk will cross three business driveways. The project also will permanently close another driveway. Some in the area are dubious about the project’s effect.
The Sun Spot Drive-In sits at the south end of the business area. As he often does, customer Gordon Pottorff was sitting in the restaurant Tuesday morning. Pottorff said he almost never sees people walking along the sidewalks on the highway’s west side — where they’ve been for several years — when he drinks coffee and chats with friends.
“Where does it go? Who’s going to walk on it?” Pottorff said. “To me, I think they’re wasting money.”
The project includes highway repaving from Wimp Way north of Terrebonne to Lower Bridge Way to the south and will cost $3.9 million.
ODOT’s budget aside, business owners are worried about the effect on their incomes and on the safety along the road.
Tonya and Randy Lunsford own Ferguson’s Market, and they frequently see heavy trucks turn into their driveway from the highway. Under ODOT’s plan, the concrete sidewalk will cross the asphalt driveways.
Randy Lunsford worries that people on the sidewalk wouldn’t notice they were crossing a driveway. Drivers wouldn’t expect pedestrians and dangerous accidents could result, Lunsford said.
“It’s a sidewalk. It’s presumed to be safe,” he said. “With all hope, I’m wrong.”
ODOT spokesman Peter Murphy said the department paid attention to the concerns. Construction crews will put a yellow strip where the sidewalk meets the driveway, which should alert pedestrians that they are crossing into a new area, Murphy said.
“We’re hearing that (concern) and we’re doing something about it,” he said.
That pleased Tonya Lunsford, to a point. She’d hoped for an asphalt driveway so pedestrians would see a clear separation. Though it doesn’t appear Lunsford will get her wish, the yellow tabs are an improvement, she said.
“I’m not going to chain myself to the sidewalk until I get (asphalt),” she said. “(The strips) are better than nothing, and that’s all I can ask for.”
But some of the business concerns aren’t safety-related.
Linda Murphy, who owns the Sun Spot, which has a handful of tables, is no fan of the sidewalk and paving project.
“It’s like a sidewalk to nowhere,” Murphy said.
The restaurant employs nine people, Murphy said, and the recession has been hard on the bottom line.
Then came the sidewalks, which will now block her drive-through entrance. Since construction began and the entrance was blocked, Murphy estimated daily business had dropped 15 to 20 percent. If that drop continues, Murphy said she may have to cut staff.
“It will mean cutting back on hours or laying off people,” Murphy said. “By doing this project, it has caused us to possibly eliminate jobs.”
ODOT’s Murphy said the department had to limit driveways fronting the strip of businesses. The department has worked with businesses in busy highway areas to share entrances so left turns are limited.
“There is now going to be an effort to control access a little bit more,” Murphy said.
The sidewalk is no small matter, Murphy said. A sidewalk will help the area look more pedestrian-friendly, which will cause drivers to slow as they enter Terrebonne. With traffic volume rising, Murphy said the department needed to slow traffic.
In 2007, ODOT implemented lower speed limits through the community, but those alone don’t solve the traffic problem, Murphy said. And a stoplight wasn’t an option because one can cause more problems than it solves, Murphy said.
“When you put a stoplight in an isolated area, it has a tendency to create more accidents, as you bring speeds to zero. That can lead to increased crashes,” Murphy said.
Tonya Lunsford said she understood why ODOT would put in sidewalks and widen the road. The department, she said, told residents that there were ways other than a stoplight to slow traffic. ODOT told business owners it would install the sidewalk and do the roadwork if property owners would plant trees and landscape.
“ODOT said, ‘You know, we can make it look like a community and slow traffic down,’” Lunsford said. “I said, ‘You bet.’”
Patrick Cliff can be reached at 541-633-2161 or at pcliff@bendbulletin.com.
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