YACHATS – In its continued effort to slow traffic on U.S. Highway 101 through town, the Yachats city council on Wednesday approved pursuing the purchase of a portable speed monitoring trailer with rotating radar capability.
Ongoing requests by community members to lower highway speed in the current 40 mph speed zones on the north and south ends of town resulted in the Public Works & Streets Commission asking for an Oregon Department of Transportation speed study. ODOT completed a sample study in mid-April.
The study suggested ways to mitigate speeds by extending sidewalks and planting trees along the highway but declined changing the 40 mph zones to 25 mph as requested by many in the community. ODOT will however extend the 40 mph zone north of town by 150 feet in response to a fatal accident last year involving a South Lincoln Ambulance leaving the Yachats Rural Fire Protection District station where the speed limit transitions to 55 mph.
The suggestions to use a portable “speed awareness monitor” came from Yachats’ Lincoln County Sheriff’s contract deputy Abby Dorsey. The rotating radar will allow deputies to clock speeds in multiple directions in order to issue citations. It can also be easily moved to different locations and gives drivers a readout of their speed – something current speed monitors in town have shown to cause people to slow down, Dorsey said.
In addition to collecting speed data, the $13,000 trailer can be equipped to count the number of passing vehicles along with other statistical data.
In other business the council approved a 4.62 percent increase in Dahl Disposal Service’s garbage rates to take effect July 1. Dahl operates under a franchise agreement that says its operating costs have to be within 85 percent to 91 percent of its income. In a memo to the city, Dahl said to hit its target 88 percent, the increase would be 8.17 percent “but in light of the current state of the economy” suggested a 4.62 percent increase. The increase means residential curbside rates will increase for a 35-gallon refuse bin between $1.45 and $1.85 depending upon the frequency of collection.
— Garret Jaros/Lincoln Chronicle
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