To mitigate traffic when its fourth high school opens in 2021, the Bend-La Pine School Board on Tuesday night unanimously approved the purchase of land from a southeast Bend church for a future roundabout at the intersection of SE 15th Street and Knott Road.

The district negotiated a $18,432.63 deal with Utah-based Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to purchase about 4,483 square feet of property at 60800 Tekampe Road, which is currently the front lawn of a nearby Mormon church, according to Bend-La Pine documents.

After a review of the school district’s transportation impact analysis of the new high school, and a planned middle school north of it, the city of Bend determined a roundabout would be required at the nearby intersection of 15th and Knott, said Karen Swenson, a senior planner with the city.

Swenson and Bend City Engineer Ryan Oster said the roundabout will be asphalt, one-lane and the district will cover the cost of construction.

District spokesperson Alandra Johnson said the roundabout’s cost will be determined after the project goes out to bid in April. The roundabout is scheduled to be completed by September 2021 as the new high school opens.

According to Oster, the 15th and Knott intersection was identified as one of the highest priorities for transportation improvements in the new high school’s area. Because drivers on Knott don’t stop at the intersection, the traffic on 15th could be “extremely slow and backed up” when students are entering and leaving, he said.

“It would be really hard for a vehicle on 15th to find a gap in the road to get into that traffic (on Knott),” he said.

Oster said that adding a roundabout will improve safety in that intersection, as well as decrease congestion, as roundabouts have less potential for dangerous collisions.

“When you think about accidents at a roundabout, the worst-case scenario is a side-swipe,” he said. “You don’t have the potential for a T-bone that you would at a four-way intersection.”

The high school will serve 1,600 students and will sit on 50 acres.

— Reporter: 541-617-7854, jhogan@bendbulletin.com