Bend’s big dig: 27th Street sewer project starts Monday

Bend’s two-year 27 th Street sewer line project kicks off Monday, starting with up to eight weeks of night work and detours near the Highway 20 intersection.

Nearly two miles of pipe will be installed along 27th Street between Reed Market Road and Medical Center Drive. The sewer line installation is expected to take 18 months, with a complete road resurfacing to follow.

“The city’s sewer collection system is at capacity in some areas,” said Project Manager Eric Forster. “The 27 th Street sewer line is part of a longer project that will help relieve sewer capacity issues all over town and will also make sewer service available to some areas that are currently on septic systems.”

Starting Monday, the 27th Street northbound lanes (and occasionally southbound lanes) between Twin Knolls Drive and Grand Way,will be closed for sewer line installation between 7 p.m. and 6:30 a.m., with detours marked, for up to eight weeks.

Highway 20 will remain open east and westbound across 27 th Street during this work.

Later this year,, 27th Street south of Bear Creek Road and north of Reed Market Road will be restricted to only the southbound lane. The northbound lane will be closed. That closure is expected to last at least a year. The planned detour for this section will reroute northbound traffic on 27th Street to go west on Reed Market Road, then north on 15th Street to U.S. Highway 20.

Access to homes, medical facilities and businesses will be maintained for residents, employees, customers and emergency services. And to accommodate the holiday shopping season, construction will pause in the business area of 27 th Street, between Forum Drive and Twin Knolls Drive, from November 15, 2016 to January 3, 2017.

“We ask that travelers give themselves extra time, practice patience and use other routes when possible,” Forster said.

Visit http://www.bendoregon.gov/SEI for up-to-date project information.