Oregon Department of Transportation officials plan to unveil more of their direction on how to design a 150 million dollar highway project on the north end of Bend.

 

ODOT's Peter Murphy says they plan a public meeting in a few weeks - probably in mid-April, to explain their thoughts on the massive project.

 

 

"What we'll be coming down in favor of is having the current alignment come basically along the line of the railroad tracks."

 

In a related story, the City of Bend is asking the Oregon Transportation Commission in Salem to take the "expressway" designation off of the highway in that area.  ODOT owns the right of way in that area surrounding the Cascade Village Shopping Center.  They want to keep it as an expressway, which limits access points and keep traffic flow moving. 

 

Several businesses asked the city of Bend to push for the removal of the expressway designation because they want to make it easier for drivers to move in and out of the Mall and other stores like Target and Home Depot.

 

The Oregon Transportation Commission is analyzing expressway designations across Oregon to determine if they are still the best way to handle traffic in those sometimes congested areas.  Murphy says OTC members took comments and testimony in a meeting on Wednesday, March 20th, in Salem, and could make their decision next month during their meeting.