BEND, OR -- Design work will soon get underway on the new Hawthorne Overcrossing in Bend’s Midtown. Principal Engineer Garrett Sabourin says it’ll carry bikes and pedestrians over the Parkway and railroad, "We don’t have a really good, safe crossing for pedestrians and bicyclists to connect back and forth; they’re very constrained due to the older infrastructure of the BNSF rail."
The city of Bend is now looking for input on what the bridge will look like. Sabourin says it’s the focus of a Wednesday open house, "There’s a lot going on in Midtown; it’s not just this Hawthorne Bridge. We’re also doing work on Franklin, Greenwood, Second and Hawthorne. This open house kind of gives an overview of all the Midtown projects that are active right now." Sabourin adds, "Hawthorne and Franklin are probably going to be two of the most involved and complex projects. They’re both pretty significant capital investments. Hawthorne, we’re probably looking at a $30-35 million project." The Hawthorne bridge will be paid for through state and federal sources and is expected to open by 2028.
He tells KBND News they'll ask three primary questions at Wednesday's meeting, "What’s the preferred bridge structure type that the community would like to see? And, there’s some safety issues that are identified around the existing Hawthorne exit, knowing that we’re introducing this new bridge; so trying to get some input on that. And lastly, after this effort, we’re moving into design so we want to start getting input on some specific design features." Those design features will impact the price tag for the project, "A pretty significant cost differential between the high and low end, and a lot of that is for those added features that you can consider if you have the budget to fund them: lighting levels, considerations around maintenance, different access locations and then overall aesthetic, you know, what you want to see here," says Sabourin.
The in-person open house is Wednesday at the Campfire Hotel’s Outpost Meeting room, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. An online version is also available through July 17th.
