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Feature
Transportation Transformation
Cascades East Transit buses line up at Hawthorne Station.
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How the 2020 transportation bond will change travel in Bend
By Jack Harvel
The 2020 Transportation General Obligation Bond passed in 2020 with a strong majority of support, showing that people in Bend have taken notice of the growing problems with traffic congestion, poor walkability and unsafe biking.
So with the bond passed, now what?
It took three years for the City to create an implementation plan that would address problems in the community before putting it out to vote. After numerous meetings with stakeholder groups, polling and public forums a Transportation System Plan was released. The 143-page document details the goals, elements, funding strategies and implementation plan for the next decade and beyond.
“We thought it prudent to do polling throughout the entire community to see, number one, what they see as top values, not specific priorities, but overarching needs,” Mayor Sally Russell said. “We came to the conclusion that it made more sense to invest in corridors that move people throughout our community, as well as specific fixes throughout our community.”
The result is a plan that improves on east/west travel, safety for bicyclists and pedestrians and continued funding of the transit system.
Road/Freight
Twenty-two of the near-term projects completed under the bond are road projects to alleviate congestion and better connect east and west Bend, and improving intersections that get cluttered with traffic. The projects include widening lanes, improving highway access and intersection improvements.
“There’s a lot of intersection improvements in the GO bond project list—intersection improvements that are constantly an issue for us,” said Sinclair Burr, a project engineer for the City of Bend.
Roundabouts and signal improvements include those at 15th Street and Wilson, Bear Creek and Pettigrew and Colorado Avenue at US 97.
“There’s a lot of other projects that improve capacity as well as safety by implementing either signal or roundabout improvement,” Burr said.
The City will work with the Oregon Department of Transportation on connectivity to highways—with major projects being ramps at Butler Market Road and Murphy Road.
“Right now we just have a southbound on-ramp and a northbound offramp, but getting the other two ramps built is certainly going to improve capacity at that interchange,” Burr said of the Murphy Road projects.
Another of the keystone projects the City will undertake is the Reed Market Road railroad over-cross that will bypass the railroad tracks and eliminate any need for cars to stop for train crossings. As those who travel near the 15th and Reed Market intersection know, seeing a train crossing during busy commute times means backed-up traffic in many directions.
An issue not technically funded by the transportation bond, but that will drastically affect driving conditions, is
the US 97/US 20 Corridor. The project will divert a portion of Hwy 97 that passes by the Cascade Village Shopping area to the east, and what was Hwy 97 will be converted into Third Street. The area frequently experiences high volumes of traffic. While 2020 saw lower numbers than years past, Highway 97 still saw plenty of traffic.
“Our high month was August of last year was 57,552 vehicles going both directions per day,” said ODOT Public Information Officer Peter Murphy. “It declined last year a little bit due to COVID, I think, but the trend has been steadily upward.”
—Ariel Méndez
In June, ODOT will request bids from contractors, and construction is expected to begin in Fall of 2022.
“This project will realign one of the most congested portions of U.S. 97 in the City of Bend and improve a section of U.S. 20. The U.S. 97 Bend North Corridor project includes a realignment of U.S. 97, improved intersections, new ramps connections at critical locations to improve local and highway traffic, and pedestrian and bicycle facilities,” ODOT wrote on its website.
These projects will alleviate some of the traffic woes of people who are frustrated with more time spent in cars during commutes, but will also help commercial drivers have an easier way around the community.
“We have a lot of different delivery vehicles to our residents throughout our entire community. We have delivery vehicles that come into our community that are larger and serve our retailers and our restaurants. We also have a lot of local delivery,” Russell said. “So we need to be sure that people count on those services to be able to move throughout our town and to get the products and the services they need.”
But roads only make up a piece of the puzzle, and a lot of the bond will go toward “multimodal,” or more diverse forms of transportation, in the city.
areas of Bend, lack any type of sidewalks and large right of ways on the street.
“In some of the originally platted areas, they have really broad and wide right of ways, but they never put in the sidewalks,” Russell said.
Russell said the need for sidewalks was a big concern for people when the City was creating the Transportation System Plan. The main focus of adding sidewalks is to create a safer environment for people to go short distances around town.
“That makes this multimodal construction even more important in those parts of the community that never had that opportunity to even walk their kids to the park that’s a mile to half-mile away, or walk with their kids to school,” Russell said.
To complement a more walkable community, the Transportation System Plan also expands on the current state of transit. Cascades East Transit currently runs nine routes in Bend, but under the TSP would expand and improve with more routes and better access for people, with tools including real-time tracking of bus routes through GPS.
“It’s gonna look really different than the transit that we grew up with,” Russell said.
The TSP also calls for mobility hubs to be placed in all four city quadrants and in the core area to end the current reliance on Hawthorne Station for bus routes—an issue that may placate the neighbors around the current Hawthorne Station, who complain about it being unsafe and not designed as a formal bus hub. The new hubs will be places for bus stops, but will also host secure bicycling parking, car and bike share services and shuttle services.
Biking
Biking is popular in the city, and Bend has garnered a reputation as a “bike city.” But much of the infrastructure in Bend keeps cyclists on the streets next to cars, which can cause stressful rides around town.
“When people think about ‘bike city,’ they’re thinking mountain biking, they’re thinking primarily in terms of recreation,” said Ariel Méndez, board member for Bend Park and Recreation District and a safe streets advocate. “But as soon as you start thinking about biking for transportation, like biking to the grocery store, or to the doctor’s office or school, it’s like a whole other ballgame.”
Bond funds focus on 12 key routes that will connect pedestrian and bike routes that make multimodal transportation less stressful and more viable. Unlike Neighborhood Greenways, which are meant to be bike paths on less-busy streets, these paths will be buffered from traffic, or disconnected entirely from roads.
“They cover a lot of Bend, and they will connect people with a lot of important amenities, whether that’s their work or shopping or even tourists to come to town and hopefully take advantage of these key routes,” Méndez said. “I’m
not satisfied with more buffered painted bike lanes, because I think the evidence shows that’s not what gets more people out and feeling comfortable biking.”
Some of the higher-dollar projects include creating a low-stress bikeway along NE Boyd Acres Road between Butler Market Road and Empire Avenue, with another bikeway connecting Brinson Boulevard to NE Sixth Street along Butler Market Road. Another shared-use path is planned along
Courtesy ODOT Painted bike lanes on Riverside Boulevard.
Wilson Avenue, from Second Street to 15th St. The plan also includes creating a shared-use path adjacent to Bear Creek Road east to the city limits; a shared-use path near NE Neff Road from NE 12th to Big Sky Park; and a shared-use path adjacent to 27th Street to connect Highway 20 and Reed Market Road, among other smaller projects.
“What I’ll be focusing on is establishing a core of east west and north that are really safe and convenient for people,” Méndez said.
Méndez believes the best way to get more people biking is physical barriers between biking on streets, as well as separate bike paths. He believes this will make travel more pleasant for both bikers and will reduce many of the issues facing drivers.
“If you look at population projections, we’re supposed to add 50% more people in the next two decades,” Méndez said. “You can see we do not have the space for 50% more cars, whether that’s on the roads in terms of traffic jams and congestion, or off the roads in terms of parking.”
Equitability
The City implemented equity mapping as a tool in the planning process, which stresses the importance of diversity of transportation methods to ensure an equitable access to transportation in Bend for all incomes.
“It’s equity mapping to make sure that, as we are looking at the goal of people who work here can live here, you’ve got to begin to recognize that to own a car, to maintain a car, to charge a car, put gas in a car, to have insurance on a car, is really expensive,” Russell said.
Equity mapping recognizes the different needs of people making different incomes in Bend and providing alternative ways that they can travel. The process works “to make sure that we’re providing to those neighborhoods throughout Bend who may have less financial capacity then making sure we’re getting the right, whether or not it’s transit services, or whatever products they need on the ground for them to move through our community safely and equitably from right, from an access point, from a financial point,” Russell said.
Oversight
The City’s citizen-led transportation bond oversite committee was scheduled to hold its first meeting on May 18, the first of many in which members will advise the City on how to implement the transportation bond. Most of the near-term goals could be completed if funding from various partners can be secured.
“At the city we have quite a few different partners, whether it be the park district, the county, COIC (Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council) which is our local Transit Agency and it kind of just depends on the facility,” Project Engineer Burr said.
The oversite committee will be instrumental in deciding on the priority of projects over the next several years.
“The idea is to get all of these projects done in the next 10 years, and it’s going to be on this public committee, the oversight committee, to help city staff develop a prioritization for all these projects,” Burr said.
If the City is able to leverage those funding sources and finish projects under budget, it may be able to get a jump on mid- and long-term goals beyond the 10-year plan it is working from.
“It’s synergy of projects,” Russell said. “If we do a good job, and inflation doesn’t get out of control, then we’re really fortunate, I’m very hopeful we will have additional dollars to go further.”
Dear Citizens of Bend and specifically the Galveston Corridor residents and business owners, The following is an opinion based on the facts known to date.
In July 2018, City of Bend Planner Aaron Henson approved a change of use at 1009 NW Galveston Avenue from retail use to a food and beverage use. This decision cleared the way for the opening of the Boss Rambler Beer Club at that location. The City of Bend skipped the statemandated public process for such land use decisions which include (1) notice to all neighbors within 250 feet of the proposed development, and (2) the posting of a sign on the property notifying the public of the proposed land use. The purpose of these state mandated requirements is to allow people directly impacted by the proposed land use action, as well as the general public the opportunity to voice their concerns. Those concerns may include any issues with the application; failures to conform with the development code or support or opposition to the land use application and ensuing development.
The most pertinent issue that the Galveston Corridor has experienced for many years is an extreme lack of sufficient parking. In the application Mr. Henson approved without the required notice to the neighbors and the public, parking was a pivotal issue. Mr. Henson approved the land use application in direct conflict with the Bend Development Code (BDC), specifically section 3.3.300C5 below.
BDC 3.3.500C5 Shared Parking: Required parking facilities for two or more uses, structures, or parcels of land may be satisfied by the same parking facilities used jointly, to the extent that the owners or operators show that the need for parking facilities does not materially overlap (e.g. uses primarily of a daytime versus nighttime nature, or of a weekday vs weekend nature) and provided, that the right of joint use is evidenced by a binding agreement that is tied to the land or similar written instrument establishing the joint use. The binding agreement may restrict future changes to use of the property, Shared parking is encouraged. In the application Mr. Henson approved, the Change of Use for the property was from retail to a drinking/food establishment. Food and beverage businesses are required to provide more parking per the Development code due to increased traffic volume. This proposed change of use was a direct overlapping use with the two drinking/food establishments next door in The Bakery Building which shares parking spaces with 1009 NW Galveston Avenue under a binding, continuing written easement Prior to granting the change of use, Mr. Henson was notified in writing that BDC 3.3.300(C)(5) prohibits the use of shared parking to satisfy the City’s parking requirements when the uses that share the parking are the same use, (i.e. drinking/food and drinking/food). Mr. Henson approved the proposed change of use and did not address
the concern that all the parking that Boss Rambler has access to, and may have access to on an adjacent parking lot, are shared with an overlapping use and therefore cannot be used to meet the requirements of the Bend Development Code section 3.3.300C5.
In approving the Change of Use for Boss Rambler Beer Club through a Land Use Exemption, the City of Bend circumvented the required public land use process, resulting in a 2-1/2 year lawsuit with the Bakery Building, LLC. The Bakery Building, LLC sued Boss Rambler Beer Club for the parking and land use violations and sued the City of Bend for the illegal decision that caused the dispute. The City of Bend refused to acknowledge its violation of state land use laws and the requirements of its own Development Code. Instead, the City dug-in and defended against the Bakery Buildings, LLC’s lawsuit.
In late summer of 2020, several near-by neighbors learned of the illegal land use decision and filed an appeal with the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) in Salem. Less than a month after the appeal was filed with LUBA, the City of Bend unilaterally withdrew the decision for reconsideration rather than fight the appeal at LUBA. Six months later, on March 29, 2021, the City of Bend rescinded Mr. Henson’s illegal land use decision. On April 12, 2021, the City of Bend agreed to settle the lawsuit and pay the Bakery Building, LLC to dismiss the City of Bend from the litigation.
Upon rescinding the illegal decision, the City of Bend required the owners of the Boss Rambler Beer Club to re-apply and obtain a Change of Use approval in accordance with the City’s procedural and substantive requirements which require notice to neighbors and the public to allow those who wish to be included in the process to be included. This process would be in accordance with the required state mandated process that should have been used in 2018.
The “new application” submitted by Boss Rambler Beer Club is essentially the old application with the same information. It includes the same shared parking arrangement that violates BDC 3.3.300(C)(5) and lacks criteria that all people in the City of Bend are required to submit to obtain land use approval.
Unfortunately, the City of Bend is continuing to allow the un-permitted Boss Rambler Beer Club to continue to operate despite having none of the required City of Bend land use approvals while they plod through the land use process with the re-submitted patently deficient application. Additionally, the serving of alcohol to patrons from an establishment that has no land use approval and should not be operating presents a risk of liability to the City of Bend taxpayers if an unfortunate injury event occurs.
The neighbors who have for years dealt with the ongoing parking conflicts in the Galveston corridor over the past years now see how the City Planning Department, the City Counsel, and specifically, Mayor Sally Russell and Assistant City Attorney Ian Leitheiser have consistently looked the other way while being acutely aware of the Boss Rambler Beer Club situation. In doing so, rather than attempt to rectify the parking problem in the Galveston corridor, the City’s actions continue to exacerbate the problem.
The citizens of Bend will have to wait and watch to see if the City will allow a bar/restaurant to continue to operate without any land use approval and then again, simply rubber-stamp the same application and approve the same change of use based on the same shared parking arrangement that the Development Code prohibits. The required public process has not yet begun, but the preliminary signs are not promising that this time the City will hold this applicant to the same parking and other site improvement standards with which all commercial businesses and residential people in Bend must comply with.
Mikel Lomsky, member The Bakery Building, LLC
