Bend hits heart of road construction season

Published 5:45 am Saturday, August 2, 2025

Road construction in Bend is hitting a crescendo for the 2025 summer season as more than a dozen projects are causing closures or delays across town, with more on the way.

“We’re in the heart of it right now,” said Ryan Oster, the city’s lead engineer.

Projects include a mix of new roundabouts, water and sewer pipe replacements and general street maintenance efforts. This year’s construction season marks the beginning of a several-year period of heightened road closures as the city races to complete projects paid for by the $190 million transportation bond voters approved in 2020. 

Timelines are subject to change, and sometimes that can be good news for road users. They got some of that on Thursday, when the city announced a major closure on Bear Creek Road — a busy crosstown artery in east Bend — would no longer need to carry over into 2026. The city expects a new roundabout at the intersection with Purcell Boulevard is expected to open by the end of October, without having to close again next spring to finish work as previously planned.

Construction of the roundabout at the intersection of Bear Creek Road, Purcell Blvd and Pettigrew Road is underway in Bend. 07/31/25 (Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin)

One leg of the roundabout might remain closed as a nearby apartment developer finishes improvements, according to Sinclair Burr, project engineer with the city of Bend. Construction on shared use paths on Bear Creek Road and 27th Street will continue into next year.

The $13 million Bear Creek Road project includes one of three roundabouts under construction in Bend, including one on Skyliners Road slated to wrap up by the end of August and one wrapping up this week on Deschutes Market Road in northeast Bend.

In mid to late August the city is set to break ground on yet another roundabout in northeast Bend at Butler Market Road and Wells Acres Road. That project, which received a nearly $4 million earmark from the transportation bond and also includes shared-use paths, and won’t be completed until the end of 2026.

“That’s going to be a pretty impactful one,” Oster said.

Perhaps the most painful closure of 2025 has been on Olney Avenue, one of the only east-west roads that carries travelers under the Bend Parkway and crosses the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway. Travelers got relief when the intersection with Wall Street reopened earlier this year with safety features for bicycles and pedestrians, but the section of road crossing under the parkway will remain closed through the fall for infrastructure work and other safety improvements.

July was a big month for the city’s street preservation program, as the city resurfaced sections of five different roads, causing delays.

The flurry of road construction is largely the result of the massive transportation bond voters approved in 2020. It obligates the city to complete about 30 projects by the end of the decade. According to Oster, the Oregon Department of Transportation is responsible for eight of those. Of the other 22, eighteen have either started design, construction or are already finished.

“That’s a pretty good number to look at,” Oster said.