Online Open House
The City of Bend invites community members to learn about and provide input on two City transportation projects: Neighborhood Connections (Better Connections and Slower, Safer Streets) and a Transportation Standards Update.
If you missed the in-person Open House on Thursday, Sept. 17, at the Larkspur Community Center, this Online Open House will be available from Sept. 17 to Oct. 1.
Neighborhood Connections
Better Connections and Slower, Safer Streets projects aim to connect walking and biking routes and slow traffic speeds at locations across the city. Projects can include building missing sidewalks and bikeways, installing speed humps or other traffic calming tools, creating 20 MPH speed zones in business districts and more.
Community members can provide input on which alternatives to select for bikeways and which projects to prioritize for speed humps.
Better Connections
This project builds new sidewalks and bikeways to connect gaps on walking and biking routes that might prevent people from walking or biking. It also improves crosswalks on busier streets. See the interactive Neighborhood Connections map for all the projects. The City is building these projects to: provide more transportation choices to reduce congestion; connect neighborhoods to schools, parks and businesses; and reduce conflicts between people walking, biking and driving.
We’d appreciate your feedback (link to survey below) on which bike facility alternative you prefer on some gaps in the biking network.
Click on the corridor name below to see cross section images that illustrate options:
We’d also appreciate your feedback (link to survey below) on which planned bike route projects you want prioritized.
The quick-to-add projects are along the Crosstown Bikeways project, the Key Routes (priority walking and biking corridors), and recent capital construction projects. They include:
- Adding buffer stripes or delineators to existing bike lanes to create more separation between bikes and vehicles.
- Building Greenways to highlight local street routes as alternatives to the busier streets. (Greenways are shared streets with “sharrow” markings, 20 mph speed limits, and may have traffic calming.)
We want your feedback on Better Connections
Tell us which alternatives you prefer and which bikeway projects you want first.
Slower, Safer Streets
These projects encourage slower speeds with speed humps (locations based on feedback from the community) and other traffic calming tools, such as “Your Speed Is…” warning signs and 20 mph business district speed zones. It also includes a safety audit to identify quick-build improvements at key locations.
We’d appreciate your feedback (survey below) on whether you want speed humps and traffic calming installed on the proposed streets. Consider the benefits and trade-offs:
Benefits:
- Slows down higher speed drivers
- Improves safety with more reaction time
- Discourages through-traffic from taking “cut through” routes on local streets instead of busier, major streets
- Low cost, easy to implement
Tradeoffs:
- Slows emergency response
- Shifts school buses to route without speed humps
- Everyone uses the speed hump, even slower drivers
- Some traffic may shift to adjacent streets without speed humps
We want your feedback on Slower, Safer Streets
Let us know if you support traffic calming on certain cut-through streets!
Neighborhood Connections Projects Already in the Works
Check out the Neighborhood Connections projects already in the works! These projects include:
- Building short missing sections of sidewalk
- Adding “New Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon” warning signs where walking and biking routes cross busy streets
- Installing street lights at pedestrian crosswalk
- New reduced speed 20 MPH Business District Zone
- “Your Speed Is…” warning signs
- High Crash Intersection Safety Audit with quick-build improvements
Neighborhood Connections Schedule:
- Sept. 2026: public open house
- Fall 2026: review feedback and select projects
- Fall 2026-Spring 2027: design
- Summer 2027-Fall 2027: construction
Similar projects:
We’ve got other projects planned across town, including our Key Bicycling and Walking Routes, the Bend Bikeway Project and bike and pedestrian components from the voter-approved 2020 Transportation GO Bond (including the Neighborhood Street Safety Program).
Transportation Standards
The City is expanding its traffic calming toolbox. Community members can provide input on the types of streets you want to see more or less of. This will help inform which traffic calming tools to use on different types of streets.
Transportation Standards Update
The City of Bend updates its Engineering Standards & Specifications each year to reflect current best practices. This year’s update also includes a more comprehensive refresh of the Transportation Standards, continuing the City’s shift toward street designs that better reflect the surrounding context and prioritize safety for all users.
“Context” refers to the character of a street corridor, including adjacent land uses, activity levels and physical conditions. The updated standards provide clearer guidance for designing streets that fit their surroundings and better serve the people who use them.
Key updates include:
- Bend-specific street context categories
- Expanded traffic calming guidance
- New street designs for higher-density neighborhoods
- A process for evaluating tradeoffs in constrained corridors
Schedule:
- June-August 2026 – concept development
- September 2026 – public open house
- Fall 2026-Spring 2027 – draft standards
- Summer 2027 – public review of draft
- Fall 2027 – City Council adoption
We want your feedback on Transportation Standards
Tell us what kinds of street designs you prefer.
Contact us
Questions? mobility@bendoregon.gov