‘Incredibly bad timing’: Bend businesses, city councilor react after changes aimed at easing Olney-Wall traffic jams

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ)-- It's what drivers and business owners are calling a headache. Traffic backed up on Greenwood Avenue in downtown Bend, a week after the intersection of Olney Avenue and Wall Street was shut for construction a week ago -just as a snowstorm hit the area.

"Essentially from open to close, it's brake lights and tail lights all day, going both ways," Matthew Carlson, who works at The Cigar Chapel on Greenwood Avenue, said Monday.

Carlson says the store hasn't seen a dip in customers, but fears they'll soon feel the impacts.

"Closing around 7 p.m., and it's still bumper to bumper, red and white out there. And people just decide to stay. They'll just hunker down and stay an extra half-hour," he said.

The city of Bend is calling it a "perfect storm." Winter weather and construction have caused major traffic, taking some drivers 30 minutes to travel through downtown.

"It was incredibly bad timing," City Council member Ariel Méndez said Monday.

The city has tried to alleviate the issue, working with ODOT to make traffic lights on Greenwood stay green longer and provide a map of more detour routes.

"These water mains were installed in the 1950s and 1970s," Méndez added. "They run right down the middle of the intersection. So it's not like we could just close one side or the other. It's just really unfortunate."

But John Heylin, who owns Unofficial Logging Company, down the street from The Cigar Chapel, says this is not the fault of the city. Many, including Carlson, say the recent safety updates to Greenwood Avenue are to blame.

"There's going to be increased strain on the other systems, and whatever can be done to help alleviate that, great," Heylin said. "But three blocks of two lanes getting reduced to one lane, it's not going to be a difference."