Deschutes Junction upgrade on horizon

Motorists who want to get from one side of Deschutes Junction to the other, or simply exit U.S. Highway 97 onto Deschutes Market Road, currently face a series of sharp turns and stop signs.

The junction will likely get easier to navigate within the next year.

Deschutes County’s Road Department plans to complete the final stage of a project it began in the late 1990s, with an overpass to eliminate the at-grade railroad crossing just east of the existing overpass on U.S. Highway 97.

County Engineer George Kolb said he expects to go out to bid on the $5 million to $6 million project in either October or November, and construction will likely take 10 months to a year.

Since the overpass is at the railroad, the county also will have to remove the current crossing, Kolb said.

The first phase of the project was the Highway 97 overpass, which was built to eliminate a dangerous intersection where there had been numerous accidents, Kolb said.

“The way it turned out was, we only had enough money to build phase one,” he said.

Collisions have not been a problem at the railroad crossing, Kolb said, but the Burlington Northern Sante Fe Railway told the county it could not build a new at-grade crossing — it had to go over the tracks. The existing railroad crossing is north of the planned overpass, which will connect directly from the highway overpass to Deschutes Market Road, and eliminate the twists and turns in the road.

A significant amount of traffic flows through Deschutes Junction, according to county data. The average daily traffic count just west of the railroad in 2006 was 3,868 vehicles, said Peter Russell, senior transportation planner for the county.

The overpass plans also have to be reworked to prepare for the extension of 19th Street south from Redmond, and it will eventually connect to the portion of roadway just east of the railroad at Deschutes Junction, Russell said.