By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
YACHATS – A stretch of U.S. Highway 101 on the south edge of Yachats may become a bit safer later this year for pedestrians and bicyclists.
The city of Yachats and the Oregon Department of Transportation have signed an agreement to install “delineators” along the west side of the highway from the south edge of downtown to the Yachats River bridge.
The state will provide $15,000 for the project, while the city will pick the style of delineators and hire a contractor to install them – hopefully by the end of the year.
But that may not be all for the stretch of road between downtown and the bridge. The city and ODOT are beginning to talk about a wide sidewalk/bike lane in the same area – a project that may be a few years in the making.
The bike lane on the west edge of Highway 101 on the south side of town is popular with residents and visitors walking to and from downtown Yachats. But as drivers pick up speed as they head south, vehicles of all sizes zoom by just inches from pedestrians.
Delineators are plastic devices about three feet high installed along the highway to better designate a path for walkers and bikers and to signal drivers there may be people along the side of the road. Lincoln County this year installed delineators along five blocks of Ocean View Drive to better mark a walking lane.
“This solution seems like a really great way to do an interim improvement,” said Jenna Berman, an ODOT staffer in Corvallis who helps the agency decide and plan on pedestrian and bicycle projects for the region. “It fits the bill in a number of ways to encourage and protect bikers and walkers.”
The idea for delineators started at least two years ago when Yachats Trails Team member Joanne Kittel met Berman during a planning session for improvements to the Oregon Coast Trail in the area. Kittel turned the details to trails member Bob Langley, who worked with Berman on possibilities and plans. When ODOT said it needed a more formal relationship with the city, Langley then handed the project off to the Yachats Public Works and Streets Commission and streets supervisor Rick McClung.
Berman said the Highway 101 delineators will look a little different than the ones installed last year along Ocean View Drive. The plastic posts will probably be inserted into a plastic curb-like structure that provides a more substantial, protective base and better alerts drivers.
McClung and the city will have to study and pick out one style and ODOT will have to sign off on it. Then a contractor can begin the work installing them along an estimated 1,000-foot section of the road.
“We’re going to work with the city to decide which system to use,” Berman said. “Kudos to them for being willing to take it on.”
Sidewalks need planning
But the bigger idea is for a 10- to 12-foot wide concrete combination sidewalk and bike path on the west side of the highway between the east end of Ocean View Drive to the Yachats River bridge. But that idea will take much more time and money, if it comes to fruition at all.
“We’ve been talking about safety on 101 and trying to find different approaches,” said Linn West, chair of the city’s Public Works & Streets Commission. “We’re trying to see if this is viable … we’re still exploring.”
To help visualize the sidewalk, West, who is an architect, has even sketched out some sidewalk ideas for ODOT.
Berman said the sidewalk idea has merits and ODOT is very interested, especially because that stretch of highway is a broken and dangerous part of the Oregon Coast Trail. The trail is under the auspices of Oregon State Parks & Recreation, which is about ready to launch a public outreach project for potential improvements to the trail that stretches the length of the Oregon coast.
“It’s not an official project right now, but a long-term vision for that area,” said Berman.
But her agency is working with the parks department to identify “gaps” in the Oregon Coast Trail, determine a priority for addressing them, and then finding money to do the work.
If a plan is approved in Yachats, part of that work could mean taking out a portion of the hill on the west side of the highway that squeezes walkers and bikers closer to traffic.
“I’m excited about it,” Berman told YachatsNews. “These interim solutions (like delineators) are important because these larger projects take years. But I’m very hopeful.”
