Oregon DMV relocates Bend office

The DMV has made a temporary move while it searches for a new location for its Bend field office, after the department failed to reach an agreement to extend the lease at its former southwest Bend location.

The DMV did not find another location before its last lease expired, so the field office moved temporarily Dec. 22 to the former Bend Visitor Center in north Bend, a location that can be difficult to find.

The temporary office is located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 97 and Sherman Road. The DMV’s lease ran out at its former location in southwest Bend, so the office moved to the former visitor center, which the Oregon Department of Transportation owns, said DMV spokesman David House.

The DMV is a division of ODOT, and House said the department chose the location because of “convenience, and it doesn’t cost us anything.”

It will take at least several months for the DMV to find a permanent location for its Bend field office, a spokesman for the department said Tuesday.

House said there are probably only a few sites in Bend that meet the DMV’s needs, since it is seeking a 10-year lease at a location that is convenient for people to access.

Once the department finds a new site, it will take three or four months to prepare the parking lot and interior for a DMV field office.

The address of the temporary field office is 63085 N. U.S Highway 97 in Bend, which can be difficult to find. The section of Highway 97 where the DMV is located is also known as U.S. Highway 20. It is just south of Empire Boulevard.

“For a while there, people couldn’t find it,” said Peter Murphy, a spokesman for ODOT who works in a nearby building. “We put up some more signs. The place is busy and active.”

The temporary office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, except for Wednesday, when it is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., according to a DMV news release.

The hours are the same as at the previous location, and the temporary office offers most of the same services. The only exceptions are that the temporary office does not offer skill testing for commercial drivers licenses or motorcycle skills, according to the release.

In the meantime, truck drivers can take their commercial drivers skill tests at DMV offices in Eugene, Salem and The Dalles, House said. The DMV is in the midst of a statewide transition in how it issues motorcycle endorsements, which will eliminate motorcycle skills tests. The department is requiring motorcycle drivers to take a basic rider training course with a group called TEAM OREGON, which was developed with ODOT and Oregon State University.

DMV officials encourage people to visit OregonDMV.com to see if they can handle their DMV business online or through the mail, according to the news release.