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Bend MPO gives annual update on STBG/SHF-funded projects; several small-build projects complete, downtown signal upgrades and riverfront design remain in design
Summary
City of Bend staff told the Bend MPO Policy Board on Jan. 24 that four of seven locally awarded projects are complete, several remain in design or construction planning, and the board heard preliminary timing and funding questions for downtown signal replacements and the Deschutes River trail/riverfront design.
The Bend Metropolitan Planning Organization’s policy board heard a status update Jan. 24 on projects funded through competitive awards from Surface Transportation Block Grant (STBG) and State Highway Fund (SHF) allocations, including several completed bicycle and sidewalk projects and multi-stage design work on downtown signals and the riverfront trail.
Janet Ruby, City of Bend staff, told the board that “we have 7 projects we were awarded and 4 are completed,” then walked members through before-and-after images and next steps for the remaining work.
Board members and staff discussed two bundled downtown items — described in the presentation as “downtown signal upgrades and bike/ped improvements” — and whether to phase work because other projects (including a nearby Hawthorne Bridge project) could change traffic patterns. Ruby said some signal poles and heads date to the 1960s and are “operating in flash mode at night,” and that the city is trying to identify smaller, downtown-appropriate signal poles rather than larger highway poles. “On Franklin, those were installed in the early 19 sixties. Mean, I think the actual signal poles themselves date to, like, 1964 or 1965,” she said, describing a need to replace aging equipment and improve nighttime timing options.
Completed projects Ruby cited included striping and protected-bike-lane pilots on Ninth Street, striping and connected bike facilities on Third Street, a Second Street pilot that introduced delineators and sparked further piloting elsewhere, targeted sidewalk gap fills (identified in the presentation as “Lerkwood” sidewalk work) and roadway character changes on the north end of Eighth Street that added pedestrian refuge islands. The Archie Briggs feasibility study — for which the MPO awarded $100,000 — was completed for substantially less than budgeted; Ruby said the city’s engineering group delivered the study for “less than 50” (thousand) and staff will return to the MPO to propose how to reallocate the remaining funds.
On the Deschutes River/riverfront trail project, Ruby described a public meeting on 30% design concepts and said the project is moving toward 60% design. She said the design will include an asphalt path on one side and attempt to incorporate elements that achieve some of the community’s desire for low-speed shared-street character without making the corridor a full shared street, and that the city is still seeking remaining construction funding.
Other projects in progress discussed at the meeting included elements of the Crosstown Bikeway/Greenway and a Colorado Avenue corridor planning-to-build effort where the project scope has changed over time; Ruby described curb extension and path realignment plans and said staff will “refine plans and work with ODOT this summer.”
Board members raised budget and spreadsheet questions during the presentation; one member asked whether the two downtown pieces had separate budget lines and flagged what they described as a typographical error in the packet’s summary table. Ruby acknowledged discrepancies in numbers pulled from different project managers and said staff would follow up.
Why it matters: these mostly small- to mid-size active-transportation and safety projects were funded through competitive MPO awards meant to advance bike, pedestrian and local corridor safety improvements. Several completed pilots have informed later, larger refinements; several remaining items are in design and will require additional coordination with outside agencies and further funding to reach construction.
Background and next steps: the MPO awarded the competitions in 2020 and 2022; staff said the portfolio covers roughly $3,000,000 in allocations for a variety of small projects across the Bend area. City staff plan to return to the policy board with updates — Ruby suggested a more detailed riverfront update in the coming months — and to clarify remaining budget figures and any options for reallocating under-spent study funds (the Archie Briggs example).
