The Yachats City Council on Wednesday did a U-turn on one-way directions for Ocean View Drive – for now.
Lincoln County is in the process of making improvements to the longest residential street in Yachats before turning it over to the city. It plans to pave two 1,000-foot sections of the road north and south of Yachats State Park in September and needs the city to make a decision on striping and lanes.
Back in May, the council voted to make Ocean View Drive one-way northbound from West Second to West Seventh streets. The city and county have agreed on a 14-foot wide travel lane and an 8-foot wide pedestrian lane on the west edge of the road. Guardrails in spots would be moved to the edge of the pavement, but that work is awaiting a study by a state archeologist.
The council also voted in May to make Ocean View Drive one-way eastbound from the state park to Pontiac Street.
But Second Street residents have complained that the one-way decisions forces that street to become the only entrance to the park, which has traffic counts of 675,000 vehicles a year. And the managers of the C&K Market said that one-way grid would prevent large delivery trucks from reaching the store.
On Wednesday the council voted unanimously to drop the one-way eastbound designation for Ocean View Drive between the park and Pontiac Street. Instead it will remain a one-lane road – for now – but with more signs alerting motorists.
The council also voted unanimously to make Ocean View Drive one-way southbound – for now – so that there is a third entrance to the park and also allow 48-foot delivery trucks to reach C&K Market.
Market manager Scott Gay said the trucks make three deliveries a week and can’t reach the store because the state’s changes to the intersection of U.S. Highway 101 and West Second made it too narrow for large trucks.
Mayor John Moore asked if it were possible to use smaller trucks. Gay replied that their suppliers don’t have them.
The city plans to apply for a state grant to do a citywide traffic study and hopefully convince the Oregon Department of Transportation that several downtown intersections need to be redone. But even if the study gets approved, any recommendation is two years away – and not soon enough for the county’s work on Ocean View Drive.
“The simple solution is to fix the curbs,” said Janette Square, who lives on Ocean View Drive.
Mayor John Moore agreed, but said it needs the state traffic study to help convince ODOT of the change.
“I don’t have a magic solution to this one,” said Councilor James Kerti, who had supported the original one-way north direction. “This information changed my mind.”
Once the county finishes paving, it will use temporary striping material to mark lanes and one-way streets. Once any traffic study is done, the city can pull them up and pay to permanently mark the road.
“This is all temporary,” Moore said during the motion before the council’s unanimous vote.
People who go to the post office will be unable to get home if they live to the north–especially during the summer months. It is usually possible to go north from Marine Drive but not from 2nd or 3rd. They will have to turn south and cross 101 to find a way to turn back and go north. The council is asking for a lot of accidents–hopefully none are fatal!