Back from a Central Oregon weekend (observations and questions)

[OCGuy81]

My wife and I just got back from Bend, OR after a long weekend seeking out a potential vacation home in the area.  GREAT weather, and a really nice town this past weekend, busy with the annual Pole, Peddle, and Paddle (think a triathlon only with skiing, biking, and kayaking).  Great microbrews and food, and a place I'm hoping I can work a deal out on for a vacation property.  ANYWAY, some observations and questions.

1) US 97, the Bend Parkway was an interesting design.  It seems almost like an expressway with a few at-grade intersections and a few actual interchanges.  I can't figure out quite how to describe it.  It's like a super 2, but with 4 lanes and a relatively low speed limit (a super 4?).  How would you describe it? 

2) South of Bend, 97 seems it could be a nice corridor for a potential I-7 or I-9 (depending on what fate and number befalls CA 99) in the future.  The ROW seems pretty wide and the Sunriver area has several interchanges and wide medians between lanes.  Not sure if it's Interstate standard or not, but COULD be an easy conversion, save the Bend Parkway mentioned above.

3) Drove a bit west of Bend on US 20 and noticed the milepost signs were counting down and reached MP 1 by Sisters.  Is this Deschutes County assigning the MPs? Seemed odd that MP 1 was in Sisters when 20 ends at the Oregon Coast in Newport.

4) LOVE of roundabouts.  Bend and ESPECIALLY Sunriver! They seem to flow fairly well.

Overall a nice weekend.  Hope we can now agree on a place and hopefully have a few trips up there in 2012.

[xonhulu]

1) US 97, the Bend Parkway was an interesting design.  It seems almost like an expressway with a few at-grade intersections and a few actual interchanges.  I can't figure out quite how to describe it.  It's like a super 2, but with 4 lanes and a relatively low speed limit (a super 4?).  How would you describe it?

"Parkway" is probably your best bet.  ODOT has been in love with this concept in recent decades, but the recent parkways in central Oregon (Bend and Redmond) are closer to freeway standard than their earlier counterparts (Salem, Grants Pass, Oregon City).  I think Bend's was originally planned as a full freeway but had to be compromised into its present form.

2) South of Bend, 97 seems it could be a nice corridor for a potential I-7 or I-9 (depending on what fate and number befalls CA 99) in the future.  The ROW seems pretty wide and the Sunriver area has several interchanges and wide medians between lanes.  Not sure if it's Interstate standard or not, but COULD be an easy conversion, save the Bend Parkway mentioned above.

I don't know why this corridor needs to be a full interstate, and it's clear ODOT isn't thinking of that conversion with the way they built the parkways mentioned above.  The worst thing about 97 south of Bend is the need for more passing lanes, as getting stuck behind a truck or RV can result in miles of aggravation as the oncoming traffic doesn't permit passing on busy summer days.

3) Drove a bit west of Bend on US 20 and noticed the milepost signs were counting down and reached MP 1 by Sisters.  Is this Deschutes County assigning the MPs? Seemed odd that MP 1 was in Sisters when 20 ends at the Oregon Coast in Newport.

Oregon's dual highway/route systems account for this.  The route US 20 between Albany and Bend is carried on three designated highways: Santiam Highway #16 (Albany to the junction with OR 242 on the west end of Sisters), McKenzie Hwy #15 (through Sisters), and McKenzie-Bend Hwy #17 (between Sisters and Bend).  The highways each have their own set of mileposts.  It sounds needlessly complicated, but that's ODOT for you.  The situation actually preserves the legacy of long-defunct US 28 (gone since US 26's extension into Oregon in 1952), whose original routing from Prineville to Eugene was the basis for the McKenzie Hwy.

4) LOVE of roundabouts.  Bend and ESPECIALLY Sunriver! They seem to flow fairly well.

That's the only way to give directions in Sunriver; just give me the numbered sequence of roundabouts.  I'm less enamored with them in Bend.

Overall a nice weekend.  Hope we can now agree on a place and hopefully have a few trips up there in 2012.

Glad you enjoyed it.  I'm pondering buying some retirement property over there myself, but thinking more La Pine to get away from Bend's hustle and bustle.

[OCGuy81]

Oregon's dual highway/route systems account for this.  The route US 20 between Albany and Bend is carried on three designated highways: Santiam Highway #16 (Albany to the junction with OR 242 on the west end of Sisters), McKenzie Hwy #15 (through Sisters), and McKenzie-Bend Hwy #17 (between Sisters and Bend).  The highways each have their own set of mileposts.  It sounds needlessly complicated, but that's ODOT for you.  The situation actually preserves the legacy of long-defunct US 28 (gone since US 26's extension into Oregon in 1952), whose originally routing from Prineville to Eugene was the basis for the McKenzie Hwy.

Lots of great information there!  Still, a confusing system, but it is what it is.  Thank you, xonhulu.

[doorknob60]

My wife and I just got back from Bend, OR after a long weekend seeking out a potential vacation home in the area.  GREAT weather, and a really nice town this past weekend, busy with the annual Pole, Peddle, and Paddle (think a triathlon only with skiing, biking, and kayaking).  Great microbrews and food, and a place I'm hoping I can work a deal out on for a vacation property.  ANYWAY, some observations and questions.

Awesome, Bend is a great place, lots to do here, especially in the summer.

1) US 97, the Bend Parkway was an interesting design.  It seems almost like an expressway with a few at-grade intersections and a few actual interchanges.  I can't figure out quite how to describe it.  It's like a super 2, but with 4 lanes and a relatively low speed limit (a super 4?).  How would you describe it? 

I call it an almost freeway, because, well, it's almost a freeway. Other than a few right in right out turns (only on the southbound lanes), a sidewalk and bike lane that I have never seen ANYONE use in the 6 years I've lived here, and the laughably low and not followed speed limit of 45 mph, it's a freeway. Well, except for the section south of Reed Market Rd., that part earns the name Parkway for me (there's a few stoplights and crosswalks in that section), but from Reed Mkt to US 20, it's an almost freeway.

2) South of Bend, 97 seems it could be a nice corridor for a potential I-7 or I-9 (depending on what fate and number befalls CA 99) in the future.  The ROW seems pretty wide and the Sunriver area has several interchanges and wide medians between lanes.  Not sure if it's Interstate standard or not, but COULD be an easy conversion, save the Bend Parkway mentioned above.

Yeah, they just finished building that a few months ago, huge improvement over what it was before. It used to be from Lava Butte to Sunriver was just a 2 line undivided road, and the Sunriver Jct was at grade. Very nice what they did to it. They did it because that section is quite dangerous, especially in the winter, the Sunriver jct was especially bad, and it got congested throughout that length.

3) Drove a bit west of Bend on US 20 and noticed the milepost signs were counting down and reached MP 1 by Sisters.  Is this Deschutes County assigning the MPs? Seemed odd that MP 1 was in Sisters when 20 ends at the Oregon Coast in Newport.

It's because of the weird alignments US 20 takes, going over the pass, combining with OR 22 and 126, splitting from them, then coupling with Business 97/3rd St. In Oregon, it's common to see highways not keep the same mileage markers throughout their length when they do funny things like that. I think US 20 mileposts "reset" in a few different places throughout the state, not sure exactly where though, but yeah, that's just how it is.

4) LOVE of roundabouts.  Bend and ESPECIALLY Sunriver! They seem to flow fairly well.

Yeah, they really work great here, at least most of the time. I definitely prefer them to stoplights though, and can't imagine how the West side of Bend would be without them, it just wouldn't work.

[ctroadgeek]

1) US 97, the Bend Parkway was an interesting design.  It seems almost like an expressway with a few at-grade intersections and a few actual interchanges.  I can't figure out quite how to describe it.  It's like a super 2, but with 4 lanes and a relatively low speed limit (a super 4?).  How would you describe it? 

I think that the 45 mph speed limit mostly stems from the right-in/right-out movements, particularly in downtown and in the southern part of the town. I grew up in Bend and remember driving on it in 2002 when it was considered Bend's best kept secret. I also recall how difficult it was to keep the speed close to that low limit!

There are plans in the works to take out several of the stoplights at the southern end and to have Murphy Rd crossover the Parkway. This would be great because there are about 3 or 4 consecutive stoplights and I don't think I have ever managed to sail through all of them. There's also a $200m plan in the northern part of Bend to have the parkway continue onto a new limited-access alignment to the east of the Cascade Village shopping center. U.S. 97 basically functions as a freeway between Bend and Redmond and this project would greatly improve safety by eliminating left turns onto the highway and many driveway accesses. Having talked to people in the transportation planning realm, the southern project is much more likely to get done in the near future as its price tag is considerably lower and a couple people were recently killed at a crosswalk on the Parkway - that seems to be one of the few things that makes these projects happen fast.

2) South of Bend, 97 seems it could be a nice corridor for a potential I-7 or I-9 (depending on what fate and number befalls CA 99) in the future.  The ROW seems pretty wide and the Sunriver area has several interchanges and wide medians between lanes.  Not sure if it's Interstate standard or not, but COULD be an easy conversion, save the Bend Parkway mentioned above.

That's unlikely to happen for a number reasons both practical and political. That being said, the recently opened section of U.S. 97 from Lava Butte to South Century Drive in Sunriver is darn near interstate grade which has made it much easier to pass the numerous boats and RV's that can sometimes clog up the highway. I haven't seen anything about this, but I suspect that there may be a project in the future to continue U.S. 97 as a four-lane divided highway all the way down to LaPine. Again this is speculation based on it being the next logical improvement in this area.

4) LOVE of roundabouts.  Bend and ESPECIALLY Sunriver! They seem to flow fairly well.

I am also a big fan of the roundabouts. I have done a number of informal tours to show people around Bend and planned it so that I hit most of the roundabouts and never had to come to a complete stop. They are safer than the traditional four-way stop and there is an idling  emissions reduction as well. Only bummer is that I haven't seen them in too many other places, or where I have seen them they aren't done well, so public opinion of them in those particular cities isn't high.

[OCGuy81]

I am also a big fan of the roundabouts. I have done a number of informal tours to show people around Bend and planned it so that I hit most of the roundabouts and never had to come to a complete stop. They are safer than the traditional four-way stop and there is an idling  emissions reduction as well. Only bummer is that I haven't seen them in too many other places, or where I have seen them they aren't done well, so public opinion of them in those particular cities isn't high.

They seem to work really nicely in Bend. They give the road a nice "flow" versus a series of lights or 4 way stops. This hasn't been the case, from what I've witnessed, in larger cities.

Looked at houses in Sunriver initially too.  Funny how directions anywhere in Sunriver refer you to a roundabout.  "Go to circle 8, and veer left..."