Yachats may not yet have a stoplight, but it could be getting a couple more one-way streets this summer.
The City Council voted last week to make two sections of Ocean View Drive one-way after Lincoln County finishes improvements this summer and turns the street over to the city.
The county wants to relinquish control of the street that runs along the ocean and Yachats River from Marine Drive to U.S. Highway 101. Before doing that, the county has agreed to make improvements such as paving, repairing culverts, installing new guardrails, striping and helping re-do parts of the 804 Trail.
But because the road narrows significantly east and west of Yachats State Park, the city has been asking residents what, if any, parts of the street should have one-way traffic.
Last Wednesday the council decided – for now.
Ocean View Drive from West Second Street to Seventh Street will be one-way northbound, the council voted unanimously. That was the route favored by most people who attended meetings on the issue last May and last month.
After more discussion, the council voted 4-1 to make Ocean View one way eastbound from the state park to Pontiac Street along the river. The street would have two-way traffic between Highway 101 and Pontiac.
Making Ocean View one-way eastbound out of the park would turn Second Street into the park’s main entrance.
Councilor Leslie Vaaler voted no, instead advocating for the idea to close the short section of street entirely to vehicles and make it more friendly to pedestrians. It’s a plan initially brought up in a 2017 city engineering report and suggested as one alternative by Kerry Kemp, whose house sits directly east of the state park where the pavement already narrows to one lane.
Mayor John Moore and Councilor Jim Tooke argued it was more important to make a decision so the county could proceed with paving and striping before July 1. Then, they said, once the city controlled the road, it could have experts study traffic flow and suggest changes — if any – including closing off the short section of Ocean View overlooking the river.
“None of us, to my knowledge, are traffic experts,” Moore said. “Let’s have the county pave and stripe, but do an analysis of traffic and then put in directional flow.”
The park Yachats’ biggest single tourist attraction and is one of the busiest state parks in Oregon – 675,000 people, locals and tourists — went through the park in 2018 according to the Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department.
Why it needs to be one way either direction is beyond me. Now I’ll be forced to use Highway 101 to get into town. At least the big trucks will, hopefully, stop coming along Ocean View. They are doing the most damage to the fragile road since the new sidewalks were put in. The town isn’t big enough to need one way streets! One way or two way, we’ll still have to dodge pedestrians