Big sewer line project coming to 27th Street

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Thirty-foot-deep trenches and heavy construction are expected to appear along 27th Street on Bend’s east side in early July as the city installs a new sewer line as part of the ongoing southeast interceptor project.

About 2 miles of pipe will be installed along 27th Street stretching between Reed Market Road and Medical Center Drive. The sewer line installation is expected to take two years to complete, Eric Forster, the city’s project manager, said.

The construction in the area will greatly affect the public’s ability to get to medical buildings, retail shops, residences, jobs and more, Anne Aurand, a city of Bend spokeswoman, said Tuesday.

“It’s a complicated project and I want people to be aware it’s a huge trench down 27th Street that is going to impact traffic down there,” she said. “The point is if you work in this area, pay attention and give yourself plenty of time to get to work.”

The public will be able to meet with Bend city Councilors Nathan Boddie and Casey Roats, who participated in the planning of the sewer lines, from 6 to 7 p.m. Monday at Barnes & Noble in the Forum Shopping Center. Another public meeting will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. June 30 at Desert Streams Church on 27th Street, where the public can learn more about the project and can see maps of road delays and detours.

North of Bear Creek Road, 27th Street will go from four lanes to two lanes, northbound and southbound. But south of Bear Creek Road 27th will be only one lane southbound, Forster said. Detour signs will route traffic traveling north on 27th Street west to turn on Reed Market Road and take 15th Street north to U.S. Highway 20.

Two miles of mostly rock and some dirt dug from the trenches will be crushed and excavated close to the construction site to be used as backfill for the sewer installation, Forster said.

The 27th Street sewer line project is just one segment of the larger, citywide southeast interceptor project that began almost a decade ago in 2007, Forster said. The goal is to create more capacity in sewer lines and reduce overflow risks in other areas of Bend.

The new sewer line along 27th Street will prevent wastewater from going downtown, where sewer lines are almost at maximum capacity, and will reroute the sewage to other areas of town instead, Forster said. The new line will also help conserve energy by deactivating 23 water pumps and installing gravity sewer systems to homes in the area currently using septic tanks.

Bend City Council passed a motion June 15 approving Taylor Northwest, a local construction company, as the contractor for the $24.9 million project. Forster said the funding for the 27th Street line is a low-interest loan from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. The loan will be paid back through sewer rates and the systems development charges on new housing.

The King’s Forest/Orion to Reed Market stage of the sewer installation began a year ago and is expected to be complete soon, Aurand said. The last segment of the southeast interceptor will come after the 27th Street line is completed and will continue going north toward Neff Road eventually connecting all sewer lines in Bend.

As the sewage capacity grows for businesses along 27th Street, potential job opportunities are expected to increase as well, said Carolyn Eagan, Bend economic development director.

“As soon as you put a sewer line in, you allow the city to develop land and have more intense residential and employment development,” she said. “It’s like adding a highway to a sewer system.”

After the 27th Street line and southeast interceptor are complete, sewer capacity will be freed up in central Bend, allowing more businesses and residents to take advantage of the full capacity of sewage lines, Eagan said.

“The sewer (line) is a major backbone infrastructure requires,” she said. “The sewer (line) right now is the first really big inefficiency (preventing) growth.”

— Reporter: 541-382-1811,

hsanchez@bendbulletin.com