Crossing town from East to West
Improving Bend’s Midtown Crossings
Before: Hawthorne Avenue
Hawthorne Avenue: Current crossing conditions as the road comes to a dead-end near the railroad.
After: A vision for hawthorne Avenue
Hawthorne Avenue: An artist’s rendering of potential redevelopment of the pedestrian crossing.
As cities and towns across Central Oregon experience a wave of growth, it is essential to ensure infrastructure can accommodate that growth without compromising livability.
In Bend, three key corridors connect the central east side to the west side: Franklin Avenue, Greenwood Avenue, and Olney Avenue.
Most Bendites drive these routes regularly, but have you ever walked, biked, or used a mobility device through the Midtown Crossings?
Take our survey and give your input on the best ways to improve Bend’s midtown crossings.
Crossing town from east to west
If you live in Bend, you’ve likely experienced difficulty in safely traveling from east to west. All three of these crossings connect Downtown Bend to the Bend Central District, an area of town that the City of Bend has identified as an opportunity area for economic development and additional housing options.
Current crossing conditions at Franklin Ave.
Improving these Midtown Crossings is key to the Bend Central District’s transformation into a vibrant, healthy, and inclusive mixed-use neighborhood with safe connections between east and west.
For the last few years, LandWatch has been working toward the community’s vision for the Bend Central District through the BCD Initiative. We’ve engaged the community with creative outreach and events that sparked the collective imagination and made the BCD vision more tangible. Now, there is widespread consensus that improving connections for people to bike and walk is needed to jumpstart redevelopment in the Bend Central District.
Barriers to safe crossings
Current crossing conditions at Greenwood Ave.
The major barriers to east-west connectivity are the parkway, the railroad, and Third Street. Fixing those barriers will require rehabilitation of the underpasses at Franklin Ave and Greenwood Ave, safety improvements for Olney Ave, and a new crossing at Hawthorne Ave.
More than a decade of analysis and public outreach has shown the need for safe and convenient multimodal Midtown crossings, but little has been done to meet that need.
These projects are on the City of Bend’s radar for the next 5-10 years and current funding sources are available.
ProyectoMural in the Franklin Underpass
Photo: Jana Zvibleman
We launched ProyectoMural as a grassroots effort to reimagine the Franklin Underpass as a safe, welcoming, and vibrant public space.
Through the BCD Initiative and in partnership with Mecca Bend and COCC’s ¡AVANZA! Program, we are bringing a new mural to life in the underpass. The final installation process is currently underway.
We'd love your feedback.
In order to advocate well for safe transportation corridors and development in the Bend Central District, we want to hear from you. Take our survey on the midtown crossings to provide your input.