The Source Weekly reporting is made possible by the power of your support! Become a Member.

Round and Round

Enough with the traffic circles already!

[
        {
          "name": "Air - Ad - Rectangle - 2 pack - Inline Content - 1",
          "insertPoint": "1/2",
          "component": "16844684",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "6"
        }
        
        ,{
          "name": "Air - Ad - Rectangle - 2 pack - Inline Content - 2",
          "insertPoint": "1/4",
          "component": "16844686",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "20"
        },{
          "name": "Air - Ad - Rectangle - 2 pack - Inline Content - 3",
          "insertPoint": "3/4",
          "component": "16844687",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "17"
        }
      ]

Is Measure 9-83 the best that planners for the City of Bend could come up with to try to hold onto the inflow of taxpayer cash set to expire next year? Did one of the planners take a course in college entitled "Traffic Circles 301" that he, or she, really, really liked? I would vote for this measure if it were focused solely on Reed Market Road, or Reed Market plus 14th Street plus 27th Street. But do we really want to buy three more traffic circles at $3 million each?

Two years from now the Oregon Department of Transportation is going to decorate Murphy Road with three traffic circles, including one at 3rd Street, which seems unwieldy to me. How about widening Reed Market with a $20 million bond, fixing the potholes on the roads we already have, and letting us taxpayers keep the change?

I urge a "No" vote on Measure 9-83.

Enough with the traffic circles already!

- Eddie Kinnamon, Bend