14th Street and General Obligation Bond Project Completion

Even more significantly, the 14^th Street Project event represents the completion of the 2011 voter-approved $30 million General Obligation (G.O.) Bond project. In May of 2011, voters passed the bond for street improvements throughout Bend. This allowed the City to issue up to $30 million to upgrade major street corridors and intersections. Intersections were selected primarily because of the severity and types of crashes occurring. Improvements benefitting all modes of traffic were distributed all over the City.

Projects included:

• Reed Market Road, rebuilt from Third Street to 27^th Street; the largest project, it includes updated three-lane roads with bike lanes and sidewalks and a new multi-lane roundabout at 15^th Street 
•  27^th Street, repaved in conjunction with the Southeast Interceptor sewer project

New roundabouts at:

• Brookswood Boulevard and Powers Road
• Simpson Avenue and Mount Washington Drive
• 18^th Street and Empire Avenue

The 14^th Street Corridor, getting completed next week in conjunction with the celebration, is the final project funded by the G.O. Bond. The bond funded work between Simpson and Galveston avenues and the City Council approved funding to extend the project north to Newport.

“These G.O. Bond projects have been a great success. Stats show that crashes have decreased, meaning safety has improved, at the three intersections that were rebuilt into roundabouts with the bond funding,” said Mayor Casey Roats. “These projects have benefitted all kinds of transportation system users – drivers, cyclists, walkers – all across the City. This shows what great work we can do when the community and the City work together to solve our transportation challenges.”