Bend city councilors tour capital projects

Bend’s tax dollars are hard at work on some city streets.

“This city council spent most of the tour on the east side of the city,” Mayor Casey Roats said Wednesday. “There’s a lot of investment and a lot of focus on that side, which is really refreshing.”

City councilors spent part of the afternoon touring about 10 major capital improvement projects to see the government’s investment at work.

Roats said this showed council the city is doing all it can to not to prepare for growth, but preserve the current streets and sewer systems.

“There are a lot of people that are going to be moving to Bend, whether any of us like it or not, and so we are trying to do our best to keep Bend livable,” Roats said. “That requires investing in streets, sewers, water, making the roads we use safer, and taking care of the asphalt, so we all have good roads to drive on.”

Some of the main stops were the north area sewer project, including Butler Market Road, 27th Street, Third Street sidewalk work and 14th Street.

Councilors met with several project managers and planners on the tour, and many of them said they’re asking for the public’s patience as they’re working as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

The north area sewer project includes a section under Highway 97 near Trader Joe’s, O.B. Riley Road to Third Street and Butler Market Road. The project on Butler Market is almost completed and cost about $3.8 million. It’ll be done by the end of this year.

“This particular project addresses areas that don’t have adequate capacity in the sewer systems,” said Bend Principal Engineer George Franklet. “It was limiting the development that could occur, particularly in the north end.”

The Southeast Interceptor sewer work along 27th Street is another main project that’ll be done by the end of the year, with the construction along Neff Road extending into February. According to Project Manager Eric Forster, the intersection at Reed Market Road should be open in two months. This 6.5 mile-long project has cost around $70 million since it started in 2010.

“It’s deep rock excavation, so the work tends to be fairly slow,” Forster said. “But managing traffic and keeping access to businesses open has been very important.”

While each project has its own timeline and price tag, the city leaders said they are confident in the work being done.