Bend seeks to make a busy street safer with a controversial plan

A major gateway into Bend will be fully closed for 48 hours, from Monday to Tuesday, Aug. 6. The closure will allow crews to continue construction on Greenwood Avenue between Wall and Second streets. The eight-block section of the road is being redesigned to reduce vehicle speeds and make the street safer for pedestrians and cyclists to use.

The work is part of the Midtown Crossings project, a city effort to reconnect parts of the city that have been separated by dangerous thoroughfares and parkways. Greenwood is the first construction project of four. Improvements and redesigns will take place on Northeast Franklin Avenue, Northeast Second Street and Northwest Hawthorne Avenue, where a pedestrian and cycling bridge will be built over Highway 97 and heavy rail tracks.

It’s an approach other cities across the country have adopted, and one that transportation experts say will benefit Bend. But not everyone who lives and works in the city is convinced.

The contract to begin the temporary, quick-build construction on Greenwood was approved at a July 17 Bend City Council meeting. Nearly every seat in the chambers was filled. Many city residents, business owners and people from nearby cities gave comments against the project.

They were concerned about losing parking spaces in front of the Cascades Theatre and worried about the reduction in vehicle travel lanes.

According to the city of Bend, the redesign will include:

• “Painted curb extensions and new safer protected crosswalks with a median island. (Reduces crashes with pedestrians by 31%.)
• “Buffered bike lane. (Reduces crashes with bikes by 47%.)
• “Reduction of travel lanes for cars to one in each direction with a dedicated left turn lane. (Reduces crashes by 29%.)
• “Accessible ADA parking spaces.
• “Safer, wider, buffered parking on the south side of Greenwood Avenue.
• “New crosswalks to access parking on side streets.”

In the end, the City Council unanimously approved the contract and the first construction project of the Midtown Crossings project.

In its current configuration, Greenwood Avenue is a four-lane road with two lanes of traffic going in each direction. It’s “one of the most dangerous street designs to cross as a pedestrian,” said Marc Schlossberg, professor of community and regional planning at the University of Oregon.

Schlossberg said the current design prioritizes automobile traffic, but the redesign will consider more types of road users and keep traffic flowing relatively well.

“It’s just one of those things that sounds like it can’t be true. There’s four lanes of cars and you’re going to two lanes of cars. It has to be worse,” he said, “and almost all of the evidence doesn’t support that fear — which is why most cities are redoing it.”

John Heylin co-owns Unofficial Logging, a bar and axe-throwing gym located on the corner of Greenwood and Harriman Street, in the middle of all the construction. He’s in support of the redesign. He said reducing the number of vehicle lanes, adding bike lanes, a center turning lane and a crossing island at his intersection will make the street safer.

“Greenwood is terrifying, if I’m being honest. I hate walking across it as a pedestrian. I’ve biked on it a handful of times and been terrified every single time,” said Heylin.

Increasing safety on Greenwood is one reason for the redesign. But it will also serve as a safe corridor to help people cross Highway 97 when Franklin Avenue is closed for construction, likely in 2025, said Russell Grayson, chief operations officer for the city of Bend. He oversees transportation in the city. That work will also be part of the Midtown Crossings project.

A block east of Unofficial Logging is a bright yellow truck, adorned with inflatable mariachis. Burrito Sunrise is written on the side of the parked food truck in Old English-style font. Owner Devin Kennedy doesn’t support the Greenwood redesign.

“I don’t think it’s a great idea,” he said. While he doesn’t think Greenwood is safe in its current state, he said he’d rather have a stoplight installed at the intersection in front of his business. Grayson said a stoplight is out of scope for the current quick-build, temporary project.

According to Oregon Department of Transportation data, from 2013 to 2022 about half of all crashes on Greenwood were between Harriman and Hill streets.

Construction is expected to be complete on Aug. 14. The city will evaluate the pilot redesign for a year before Bend officials decide on the project’s next steps.

Heylin, the owner of Unofficial Logging, is hopeful the redesign will encourage more foot traffic onto Greenwood. “Foot traffic is window traffic,” he said.

On a hazy, warm weeknight, Gabriela Gomez and Tomás Taboada chose to stop in Bend during their road trip from Seattle to San Diego. They saw firsthand why business owners might want more foot traffic on Greenwood. They walked from their lodgings on the east side of Highway 97 to Bend’s downtown.

They said they looked at the map and felt the distance was close enough to walk, but as they drew near to the walkway under the 97, Gomez said, it “felt a little bit sketchy,” and she wondered if they should go back and drive instead.

They continued walking but said they would probably call a car service to return to their accommodations later that night.