South Bend footbridge
I am the local leader of the Bitterbrush Broads and Bro's chapter of the Great Old Broads for Wilderness and we oppose the footbridge proposal over the Deschutes. I read your article about the group that keeps pursuing a footbridge over the Southern Deschutes River Wild and Scenic area. There are some points missing in this story. First off, the survey that the BPRD did was not scientific in any way to inform and educate people about their vote for this footbridge and the impact. The survey was a simple yes or no, not telling the whole story. To begin with this would go over a section of the Wild and Scenic River corridor which has protections in place for the river, cultural and scenic values. Another factor is that no one was advised or given any information regarding the impact to sensitive wildlife in the area with this bridge. You can't do a survey when folks don't have all the appropriate information and then, as
Hovekamp says, " ...elevating the footbridge in terms of priority....".
BPRD needs to focus their funds on taking care of what they currently are responsible for, like improvements of the footbridge at Drake Park and look at other alternatives as far as potential locations for a footbridge. On top of all of this is that the Forest Service and ODFW would have to approve such an action, which would mean having to amend their forest management plans, which is not an easy thing to do. Again, there is more to this story than what was shared. This bridge group keeps coming back again and again without telling the whole story simply because they want to make their hiking easier for themselves or they are not looking at the overall impacts. They are getting a lot of publicity for something that is simply wrong. We oppose this bridge. Please contact the BPRD to voice your opposition to this proposal for all the reasons I just outlined.
—Mary Fleischmann
Hello people of Central Oregon! As we all have seen lately, there is renewed interest in building a footbridge at the south end of town across the Deschutes River! I'd say that that time has come and gone. As everybody witnesses on a daily basis, the Reed Market corridor is over capacity. The Bill Healy Bridge was built over 20 years ago when the town had a population of 50,000 people. We are now over 100,000 people and everybody is excited for the outdoors! Of course the only way to get there or to get to and from work, school, the outdoors, the mountain, dog, walking, mountain, biking, etc. would be, the Bill Healy Bridge and Reed Market Rd. We are also seeing that when a winter storm hits, and it gets slippery out people in their cars/bicycles/on foot are having a hard time, navigating up the hill towards Century Drive, or up the hill towards the Parkway, now, our southern crossing is closed! What are we to do? I think that the time has come for our city council, county, government, and the Forest Service to build a southern crossing that is south of Reed Market that can handle cars. I live just off of Brookwood and Reed Market. I am not looking forward to an additional 500 Pahlisch Homes at the COID parcel; these roads cannot handle it.
—Kit Blackwelder
RE: Crossing the Centerline... both literally and figuratively Guest Opinion, 1/18/24
I sympathize greatly with Ron Penner-Ash after reading his description of that horrible accident on his way up to Mt. Bachelor. I passed the scene of the accident on my way down, probably not long after the accident. I believe that ODOT bears some responsibility as the road condition was as dangerous as I've seen and there was zero gravel on the road at that time.
I was in a line of cars descending the mountain as we passed the Meissner Sno Park. The road appeared clear of snow and ice, just a bit wet. When the lights of the emergency vehicles became visible, the car in front of me braked gently and began to swerve. I also braked gently and my car began to swerve. The Subaru behind me braked also and got really loose, sliding dangerously.
ODOT needs to get out and spread gravel when the road is this slick. The gravel provides traction but also warns drivers that the road is icy. I've read articles about ODOT reducing funding for maintenance of the road to Bachelor. I hope that isn't true.
I've driven to Bachelor about 100 times over the last 7 years, in all conditions. My car has AWD and snow tires. I am always a cautious driver. Losing traction while attempting to slow down near that accident scene left me as scared as I have ever been on that road. I had no idea how slick the road was. Driving home I kept thinking that it could have been me (or anyone else) that slid and hit that Sprinter van. I believe that there was another serious accident the very next day where a car hit the Bachelor shuttle bus.
With the increasing number of people travelling to Bachelor in the winter season, reducing the cost of road maintenance should not be an issue.
— Paul Miller
It is so scary to hear about this accident and I am so thankful everyone is OK. I think that this opinion gives us an important opportunity to discuss public transit to and from the mountain. Currently Mt. Bachelor partners with CET to provide rides from Bend to the mountain for $7 per rider one way or $12 round trip per rider. This would be $60 for my family to ride the shuttle. It would be great to see more people using this service AND being rewarded for using this service either with a coupon or even a reduced or free shuttle ride price. Being charged to ride after spending a lot of money to ski doesn't really encourage the behavior we want. I would also love to see CET partnering to provide rides to the popular cross-country skiing sno parks (from what I hear this may be in the works.) It seems that safer, less expensive (or free, subsidized by Mt. Bachelor,) travel up the mountain and fewer emissions would be good for all.
—Sarah Bigbee
Letter of the Week:
Sarah: I too would love the chance to ride a bus to the Nordic trails! I reached out to Cascades East Transit to inquire about the possibility, and they told me that talks are just beginning regarding shuttles to sno-parks — how to pay for them, how it would work and so on. If it all goes well, we COULD see that amenity next ski season! We'll definitely report on it if it gets going. Meanwhile, please enjoy your Palate gift card.
—Nicole Vulcan
