By DANA TIMS/YachatsNews
YACHATS — A pioneering, multi-year project to increase pedestrian safety just south of downtown Yachats by better separating cars and walkers has hit a few bumps.
But both city and state workers trying to see the project through to fruition insist the effort is by no means kaput.
“It’s certainly not dead,” said Rick McClung, who oversees street and water projects for the city of Yachats. “That’s the important part.”
At issue is a 1,000-foot-long traffic safety project stretching from south of downtown along U.S. Highway 101 to the Yachats River Bridge. As proposed, the installation of next-generation “delineators” on the west side of the highway would help slow traffic and enhance pedestrian and bicycle safety.
Delineators, sometimes referred to as “candlesticks,” are plastic devices roughly three feet high. They are installed into hard-plastic curbing and are intended to better designate a path for pedestrians, while signaling to motorists the possible presence of people on the side of the road.
However, as matters moved toward forming a specific design for the installation, officials with the Oregon Department of Transportation realized that parts of the highway were just a bit too narrow to accommodate the type of delineators that had been chosen.
Specifications requiring that the delineators be placed at least one foot off the fog line, along with additional requirements for spacing dictated by the Americans with Disabilities Act, produced a mathematical solution showing that the project, as originally configured, could not work.
With that in mind, two members of the Yachats Public Works & Streets Commission, journeyed to the area recently, tape measures in hand. Their goal was to speed what is on the best day, bureaucratic sluggishness, by sending revised measurements to ODOT officials, who could then consider whether a different, narrower type of delineator might do the trick.
“Overall, we consider this a very important project,” said commission chair Linn West, who was accompanied by commissioner Alex Cox. “There are a lot of people on the other side of the river who would walk into town if they had a safe way to do that. We think delineators can still make that work.”
State officials, who were ready to approve up to $40,000 in grant money to the city to finance the project, simply were not aware of how narrow parts of the roadway were, West said. More recently, an ODOT official did another drive-by through the area, when it became clear that the project, as configured, would run afoul of state and federal right-of-way requirements.
Jenna Berman, the state agency’s Region 2 active transportation liaison, called the latest wrinkle “a little stall out.”
“We need to figure some things out,” she told YachatsNews. “Initially, we thought we had more space on that (west-side) shoulder. But I’m just waiting for the new measurements to come in and I still think we are ready to talk solutions.”
The delineators are part of a longer, multi-phase project for the south end of Yachats that includes plans for concrete retaining walls and full sidewalks beyond where the delineators are currently planned.
For now, Yachats’ West said, that second phase will be put on hold in order to prioritize completing phase one.
“Maybe phase two doesn’t even happen,” he said. “But the important thing for us, right now, is to get these initial safety improvements made.”
- Dana Tims is an Oregon freelance writer who contributes regularly to YachatsNews.com. He can be reached at DanaTims24@gmail.com
Such an extreme waste of taxpayer money. So many places the dollars could be better spent. This is exactly why tax payers hate government. Doesn’t bother them at all to waste our hard earned cash. I lived in Yachats for 22 years. I crossed the highway twice a day and walked along the highway for about a half mile and never did I have a close call by a driver. It’s really common sense that the pedestrian should keep an eye out. I moved from Yachats eight years ago and am so glad I did.
It seems like delineators on the 101 curve will increase safety for pedestrians, be they residents, visitors, kids, and/or people walking dogs. That’s the sort of safety that taxpayer dollars ought to be spent on. While I’m sure there are plenty of instances where tax money is spent foolishly, this doesn’t seem to be one of them. If the delineators encourage more walking for any of those mentioned above, that’s a win for health and for resource conservation. I hope that a solution is found soon. Other areas where pedestrian safety is at unnecessary risk, given the relatively small cost of improvements, are Ocean View Drive where it parallels the river, and up Yachats River Road from 101 where there is no walkable level ground off of the roadway for a short distance. A simple, flat dirt path (no delineators needed) up Yachats River Road from 101 for less than 1/4 mile would make it safe for local residents to walk into town.
At a minimum this section of roads needs a rumble strip to alert both drivers and pedestrians that they are over the fog line, particularly pedestrians with there backs to the traffic. This is inexpensive and could be done on the fog line as drivers aren’t supposed to even touch let alone cross it. In my experience walking that section of road some 20% of south bound traffic is on or over the line with over 50% exceeding the posted speed limit.