Deschutes County backs $4.25 million federal request for Redmond intersection work

Deschutes County commissioners voted Feb. 12 to authorize staff to pursue a congressionally directed spending request seeking $4,250,000 to fund traffic-signal construction at Highland and 35th avenues in Redmond and design work for future improvements at Helmholtz. The request, described by county roads staff as urgent due to a narrow application window, would come with local matching funds from the city and county, generally at the 10% level.

Chris (county roads staff) told the board that the project responds to growing traffic pressures near the new Redmond Recreation Center and that the county has already programmed roughly $500,000 in its capital improvement program toward related design work. "It's a $4,250,000 CDS request," he said, adding that match commitments from the city are anticipated and that ODOT would deliver the project if federal funds are secured. He also described the effort as a county–city–ODOT partnership.

Commissioner Debone moved approval of the board submitting the CDS request; another commissioner seconded. The board called the vote, with the commissioners present answering in the affirmative. Chair and staff said they would return the finalized application to the board as a formal agenda item for final authorization before submission to a senator's office.

The county noted the short timeline: staff said the CDS application is due by midnight on Feb. 25. County staff will coordinate with Redmond and ODOT on project delivery and on the local match amounts before final board approval.

Next steps: staff will finalize the application, calculate and document the local match and schedule the formal agenda item to authorize submission and any county match commitments.