Redmond looks to build new Eastside bypass project, help ease Highway 97 congestion
(Update: Adding video, comments from Redmond Mayor Ed Fitch, KTVZ.COM Poll)
REDMOND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The city of Redmond is considering a way to move forward with a new Eastside arterial as a traffic bypass to Highway 97 by building a road system to parallel the highway.
Redmond Mayor Ed Fitch explained the need for the bypass on Wednesday.
"It'll open up a lot of that land for airport development, as well as giving people on the Eastside a way to get out of Redmond without coming over to Highway 97," he said.
The project aims to ease congestion, getting big-rig trucks, along with commuters, off of the main highway during busy times and events.
The plan, discussed at a city council meeting last week, is to connect Airport Way through the old Juniper Golf Course, to Highway 126 near its current intersection with Ninth Street.
Fitch told NewsChannel 21, "We want to have an interchange south of Redmond so that the Fairgrounds can operate from a traffic perspective much better than it is now."
It could become the route for large trucks traveling through Redmond, and keep them off the Highway 97 corridor to reduce congestion and increase safety. The roads would be built to industrial standards, with one lane running in each direction of travel, and divided by a center turn lane.
In addition to easing traffic, a new bypass in East Redmond would open up nearly 700 acres of industrial land to be developed.
Nearly $100 million, and 10 years, would be needed to implement a Highway 97 corridor improvement plan.
But the total cost for the East Redmond bypass is estimated at $30 million, and aims to be completed in just five years.
Still, "it's a lot of money" Fitch acknowledged. "But I think it'll be very significant for the whole community. As we all know, South Highway 97 is dysfunctional right now."
One example of the dysfunction occurred earlier this year, when it took some attendees nearly three hours to get back home from the Fairwell Festival, even if they lived in Redmond.
Fitch feels that an improvement for traffic could also mean an improvement economically for Redmond.
"We're going to have the second-largest fairgrounds in the United States," he said. "That new avenue, or that new way to get into Redmond, is going to be critical, because we can't handle that kind of traffic under the existing system."
The new bypass would be the second created in Redmond, after one was opened over a decade ago to take truck and through traffic out of the downtown core.
About $4 million of the $30 million to fund the project will be taken from a one-time general fund use, expense, with more than half of the total expected to come from transportation system development charges (SDCs).
