Bend’s Murphy Road Corridor improvements are ahead of schedule

(Update: Adding video)

One phase of improvements due to be finished by August now could be done next month.

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- "It's going to be done before you know it."

Those are the words Thursday of DeeDee Fraley, a project engineer for the city of Bend and the manager on a major project underway in southern Bend.

The city is currently constructing the final segments of the Murphy Corridor Improvement Project that started in 2019. There's three blocks of construction included in the improvement project: Parrell Road to Country Club Drive, Country Club Drive to Brosterhous Road, and from Brosterhous Road to 15th Street.

Three of the six projects along Murphy Road have already been completed, and the last three are expected to be done in the next few months.

According to Fraley, the modernization project from Country Club Drive to Parrell Road will be done in May, a few months ahead of schedule.

“We were originally hoping to have everything open by August, or the end of August," Fraley told NewsChannel 21. "So we are definitely on track to be open earlier.”

One of the main parts of the improvements are the accessibility for cyclists and pedestrians. The project is "modernizing" Murphy Road, by adding a shared use path and bike lanes.

“A better bike and pedestrian connection will really benefit this side of town,” Fraley said.

According to Fraley, it's one of the bigger projects the city has worked on in recent years.

Fraley added that the biggest component of this project is the "bridge over the railroad."

Construction started on the Murphy Road extension bridge in December of 2019 and, according to Fraley will be completed this fall, connecting the west and east sides of the train tracks.