City of Bend unveils latest design details for long-awaited Reed Market Road railroad bridge
KTVZ
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — The city of Bend on Monday unveiled the latest designs for the long-awaited Reed Market Road railroad crossing, a project designed to end years of train-caused traffic backups.
The designs were presented at a two-hour drop-in open house at the Larkspur Community Center and in an online open house.
City officials said both a bridge and a tunnel were considered, with a bridge chosen “because a tunnel would cause minor drainage issues” along with higher costs and more disruptive to the railroad.
Reed Market Road is a key east-west arterial in southeast Bend. The city says six to eight trains cross the road each day, and each train delays traffic for five to 20 minutes.
The new bridge will still have two lanes eastbound and one lane westbound. It will maintain the existing access at American Lane and modified access at Ninth Street.
The bridge will have four travel lanes and a sidewalk and bike lane with curb and buffer on both sides of the road. A left turn will be maintained heading north on Ninth, but only right turns allowed coming off Ninth onto westbound Reed Market.
A north-south pedestrian tunnel is planned to cross Reed Market just west of Ninth Street.
Construction is expected to begin in mid-2027, after the Reed Market Road-15th Street roundabout improvements and a new roundabout at 15th and Ferguson Road are complete. It’s expected to be complete in 2029. Funding for the project will come from the 2020 voter-approved GO (General Obligation) Transportation Bond and a $32 million Federal Rail Administration grant.