Get Your Local Road Improvement Ideas Ready

Those looking to make changes to roads in their Bend neighborhoods can get their proposals ready.

A new city program targets small-scale residential street projects, focusing on pedestrian and bike safety, speeding, intersection crossings and other issues, according to information from the city. The Bend City Council in June had approved an $800,000 two-year budget for the program, meant to advance such projects as adding signs and crosswalks, extending curbs and filling in short segments of sidewalks.

Any city resident can apply, but the program encourages neighbors and neighborhoods to work together on their top issues. The application period just opened on Monday and the deadline is Sept. 20.

“We are curious to see how many applications we’ll get,” said city community relations manager Joshua Romero. “We’re really excited to see what comes in.”

Streets that are eligible for the program must be public ones that the city owns and maintains. The local, residential streets must be longer than three blocks and used by more than 400 vehicles per day. Also eligible are local street intersections with a collector or arterial street; and spot improvements on an arterial or collector fronted by residential lots.

Projects should include some kind of education campaign. Each of the city’s 13 neighborhood associations will identify their top two projects, according to information from the city. The Neighborhood Leadership Alliance, formed by a member of each of those 13 associations, will prioritize the projects in early 2020 and recommend the highest priority ones. The projects could finish sometime in 2021.

The program is part of city council’s goal to improve neighborhood safety after neighborhood associations and the neighborhood alliance voiced concerns, Romero said.

For more information, visit the program webpage.

This article appears in Jul 31 – Aug 7, 2019.