Community members are invited to an open house on Tuesday, April 9 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. at the City of Bend Council Chambers, 710 NW Wall St., to learn about plans for the “Midtown Multimodal Connections and Streetscaping,” Greenwood Avenue Phase 1 safety improvements project, and to provide feedback on the long-term options. The same open house information and survey is currently available online at bendoregon.gov/midtowncrossings. The survey will close on April 16, 2024.

The community is invited to share concerns about existing safety matters along Greenwood Avenue, from Wall Street to NE Second Street, and give feedback about preliminary design concepts to improve safety for all modes of travel.

Phase 1 includes road surface treatments, which may be temporary, that will implement a “road diet” on Greenwood Avenue. This means changing it from a four-lane section to a three-lane section which will significantly improve safety without a major impact on motor vehicle capacity. The surface treatments are quick, low-cost improvements that are intended to be adaptable, based on real-time community feedback, and test which options are best to use in the long run. This project’s success relies on public feedback.

Construction on Greenwood Avenue’s quick-build improvements will begin this July and will be completed in August. The changes will then be evaluated from August 2024 to August 2025, to determine the future long-term improvements.

Improving the transportation system by focusing on safety is a City Council goal. Creating safer connections between neighborhoods, places of work, schools, parks and businesses, for people who ride bikes, walk and roll is a City priority. The City is designing a variety of safer and more accessible bike and pedestrian routes throughout the community, including the Midtown Multimodal Connections and Streetscaping Project that will improve east-west travel between downtown and the Central District for all users.