NE Bend speed limits to drop on Neff Road, Penn Avenue

Following community input and engineering analysis, the city of Bend announced Thursday that speed limits will be lowered this month on two stretches of road in northeast Bend:

· NE Penn Avenue / NE Neff Road

-between NE Eighth Street and NE Eastwood Drive – from 35 mph to 25 mph

· NE Neff Road

-from NE Eastwood Drive to NE Eagle Road – from 35 mph to 30 mph

The new speed limit signs will have orange warning flags on top for a few weeks to call attention to the changes.

Officials said the speed changes were requested by community members in response to changing traffic and development along the corridors.

In Oregon, speeds for roads within the city that are not highways or local residential streets – such as the aforementioned road sections — are set by the Oregon Department of Transportation. The new speed limits are established based on a traffic study that looks at existing driving speeds, road characteristics, adjacent land use, access locations and more.

The city asked drivers to pay attention to the new speed changes and be aware of conditions. Oregon’s basic rule speed law requires driving at the speed that is safe for conditions – this may be a speed slower than the posted speed. With winter here, it is especially important to pay attention to your speed and road conditions. Drive safely.