Once upon a time, there was a fast-growing city in Oregon that was getting more and more traffic congestion on the north end of town.

The villain in our tale came along and said you can’t do one of the things that might make the most sense to fix it: Build a new interchange just outside the urban growth boundary.

And they all didn’t live happily every after.

That is an inexact summary of what is going on in Bend and Deschutes County out on U.S. Highway 97 around the Cooley Road intersection. That intersection has caused more than it’s share of devilment because of its traffic.

The biggest problem for most people can be surmounting the intersection in the morning to get to work or in the evening to get home. It’s also caused consternation for the dreams of expanding job prospects and the tax base of the land at Juniper Ridge.

At one point, the city of Bend was doing a lot of fretting that it wouldn’t be able to create many more jobs at the very place — Juniper Ridge — it pinned high hopes on to create more jobs. The Oregon Department of Transportation even said it couldn’t allow new building at Juniper Ridge, because it would be bad for traffic at Cooley and 97. The issue hasn’t entirely gone away, but in 2010 the city and ODOT worked together so Bend didn’t have to come up with tens of millions of dollars for intersection improvements before new jobs could be created.

Now ODOT and Bend may soon get those tens of millions from a federal grant — upward of $60 million to create traffic changes in that area.

What might make sense for the future, though, is to put an interchange farther out than Cooley Road outside of Bend’s urban growth boundary. That’s generally a no-no in Oregon transportation rules because of a well-intentioned attempt to contain growth.

What better way for Oregon government to show it cares than to compel a suboptimal solution that doesn’t account for the future?

But don’t concern yourself with that. Research shows the best thing for productive people is to spend more time sitting in limbo in traffic, thinking great thoughts and inhaling air-conditioned air. Common side effects include: frustration, aggravation, more frustration and aggravation, fruitless searches for good public transportation options or safe bike lanes, distaste of government, distaste of that car in front of you and more. Ask your doctor today if spending more time in traffic is right for you.