A car passes a cyclist at NE Olney Avenue and NE First Street in Bend in February 2023.

Construction will begin Monday on Olney Avenue in Bend, closing the road where it crosses underneath the Bend Parkway.

The city expects that section of the road — between Wall Street and First Street — to reopen by the fall, while the intersection of Wall and Olney should open again by June. East of the parkway, between First and Second streets, intermittent road and intersection closures will be ongoing through summer.

Detours include NW Ninth Street, Newport Avenue, NE Third Street, Revere Avenue and southbound U.S. Highway 97.

The construction will install facilities intended to make bicycle and pedestrian travel safer on Olney Avenue, and simultaneously complete water and sewer work under the road.

After construction, several intersections in the corridor will feature protective concrete island and green paint indicating bike lanes. Underneath the parkway and crossing the Burlington Northern Sante Fe Railroad, a concrete strip will separate bicycle and car travel.

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Rolling closures of Portland Avenue directly to the west of the new construction will continue until spring . Those closures affect traffic from the Deschutes River west to Ninth Street.

The Olney Avenue project marks the beginning of a period of heightened road construction in Bend, with many projects paid for by the 2020 transportation bond now on the precipice of breaking ground. City officials estimate roadwork activity will peak over the next three years as the city works to build dozens of projects obligated by the $190 million bond. About $2.5 million from the bond will be spent on Olney Avenue.

The construction also comes as the city continues to evaluate performance of a bicycle safety project on Greenwood Avenue, a key parkway and railroad crossing to the south. Early studies indicate traffic on Greenwood’s neighboring corridors — including Olney — ticked up slightly after car lanes were pared down.