About
U.S. 97 is the main north-south highway through central Oregon, connecting Oregon to California and Washington. U.S. 20 is a primary east-west highway in Oregon. In the Bend area, both highways are primary routes that help people get through town and connect to area shopping, dining, businesses, schools and recreation. Central Oregon's population growth over the last decade has increased traffic congestion and, in turn, reduced safety for motor vehicles, pedestrian and bicyclists.
This project will realign one of the most congested portions of U.S. 97 in Bend and improve a section of U.S. 20. The U.S. 97 Bend North Corridor project includes a realignment of U.S. 97, improved intersections, new ramp connections at critical locations to improve local and highway traffic, and pedestrian and bicycle facilities.
This project will improve bicycle and pedestrian safety and connectivity along the U.S. 20 and U.S. 97 highways by building over two miles of multi-use paths, improving or installing over 50 ADA ramps, and building enhanced crossings throughout major crossings in the project area. The project will also be working with Cascade East Transit to build a new transit stop near Target that will support the re-routing of one of their least reliable routes.
These project improvements will provide the following:
• Improve travel time reliability
• Support economic vitality
• Reduce traffic volume and speeds at high conflict locations
• Increase freight mobility
• Aid with congestion
Location
U.S. 97
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U.S. 97 and U.S. 20 in north Bend.
Cost and Funding
The purpose of the U.S. 97/U.S. 20 Bend North Corridor project is to implement a long-term solution to maintain a safe, efficient U.S. 97 and U.S. 20 in the north end of Bend. ODOT completed an Environmental Impact Statement in 2014 to help identify the best solution for balancing transportation needs. The original project identified in the original 2014 study was significantly more than any identified funding.
ODOT and Federal Highway Administration worked with local agency partners to explore opportunities to scale down and modify the alternatives to reduce impacts, address public comments, and reduce the overall cost of the project.This effort led to an initial funding source via Oregon House Bill 2017 (Keep Oregon Moving), and was then complimented with a federal INFRA Grant for $60.4 million in 2019. At which time, ODOT Region 4 determined to proceed with the project and identified additional funding via local and
private sources.
This resulted in an overall funding for the project of $175 million.
Contractor
Kiewit Infrastructure West has been selected as the contractor for this design-build project.
Technical Project Documents
Access technical files here.