People who use Wilson Avenue for cross-town travel will soon have to find a new route.
The City of Bend announced Tuesday that an estimated three-month closure of the Wilson Avenue railroad crossing near 9th Street will begin April 27 to replace track and signal equipment. It’s the final phase of work on the Wilson Avenue corridor, where the City has piloted new protected designs for roundabouts and intersections.
The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway will upgrade the railroad, and a City contractor will replace adjacent sidewalks and roadway pavement. The closure will occur between Ninth Street and Centennial Street — the last remaining section of Wilson Avenue without safety improvements for bicycles and pedestrians, said Bend Project Engineer Kevin Kramer.
The City plans to create a detour using Third Street, Ninth Street and Reed Market Road.
The City’s website indicates the planned July reopening is an estimate and is subject to change.
Wilson Avenue stretches from 15th Street to the east to Bond Street near the Old Mill District to the west, including a bridge spanning U.S. Highway 97.
The City completed a new roundabout at the intersection with 9th Street in 2022. That was one of the first projects funded by a $190 million taxpayer bond voters approved two years earlier for transportation projects.
It was also the City’s first roundabout with protected bike lanes, where a concrete curb separates cyclists from car traffic. A new roundabout at intersection with 15th Street followed.
In 2024, the City revamped the signalized intersection at the busy Wilson and Third Street to help cyclists and pedestrians. The “protected” intersection features concrete bulb-outs to shield cyclists, along with bright-green crossings.
East of Third Street, the City added a mix of buffered bike lanes, shared-use paths and concrete crossing islands.
The City has about $16.5 million in bond funding budgeted for the Wilson corridor, according to the City’s transportation bond dashboard.
The upcoming closure is part of a flurry of construction as the City works to complete dozens of bond-funded projects by the end of the decade. It’s sandwiched between the year-long of Olney Avenue, which reopened with safety improvements in February, and a six-month closure starting this fall of the Franklin Avenue underpass for infrastructure and safety work. All are busy east-west corridors and among the handful of routes that carry travelers across the Bend Parkway and the railroad tracks in the center of town.
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