Transportation, Housing, and the Future of Our Streets
June was another active month for Bend Bikes. We supported and participated in two bike buses and a walk and roll event at local schools, hosted a social ride, co-hosted a social with Central Oregon Yimby, attended an open house and and sent multiple calls-to-action to continue pushing for safer streets in Bend and multi-modal connections throughout Central Oregon.
In this month’s newsletter we highlight the intersection of design, housing and transportation with a recap of our YIMBY social and an article on the Happy Cities presentation hosted by Build a Better Bend. We also add another favorite route to our popular routes to the new Bend Central Library.
Bend Bikes Joins Central Oregon Yimby for a Social Focused on Transportation and Housing
On June 22nd, Bend Bikes co-hosted a community social with Central Oregon YIMBY to explore the critical intersection of housing and transportation in Bend. The event brought together more than 20 participants, including a Deschutes County Commissioner candidate, an incoming candidate-elect, several current City Councilors, and prospective council candidates for this fall’s election.
The evening sparked energetic dialogue centered around systemic shifts needed in Bend’s planning approach. We discussed how the City can more thoughtfully allocate right-of-way to balance multi-modal transportation with pressing housing needs. Currently, many of Bend’s vehicle lanes are unnecessarily wide, which encourages speeding while swallowing valuable land that could otherwise support housing. By modernizing our street standards to prescribe narrower travel lanes, we can create a win-win scenario: slower, safer streets for all users and more efficient land use for housing for decades to come.
The conversation also focused on the data inputs shaping our streets. Local street and intersection design traditionally relies on “peak demand” models—engineering roads specifically for worst-case rush-hour traffic volumes. Embracing alternative models that prioritize 24-hour average traffic volumes instead would prevent over-sized, automobile-centric streets. To build a truly human-centered transportation system, we must design for the daily community experience of all users rather than the single busiest hour of the day.
How Do We Want Bend to Grow?
-by Jim Elliot
Building a Better Bend is a non-profit in our fair city that promotes land use and planning ideas. The organization holds an annual lecture series which brings in a variety of people with backgrounds in planning and governance of cities. The speakers “share their experiences with the public and professionals in our community about ways to have a positive impact on the quality of development and growth in our community.
”This past May, the speaker was Mitchell Reardon, the director of urban planning at Happy Cities in Vancouver, Canada. This organization works with cities who are seeking to transform overlooked public spaces into people-focused and dynamic spaces that promote health and well-being. Happy Cities is an organization founded by Charles Montgomery, author of the book, Happy cities, Transforming our lives through Urban Design.
The lecture by Mitchell Reardon covers topics of design and uses examples of work done in cities such as Park City, UT. Park City has many of the qualities and challenges that face us here in Bend.
View the Happy Cities Presentation Here
Our Favorite Routes: Farewell Bend Park to the New Central Library
–by Charlotte Mountain
This month’s favorite route builds on our collection of paths to the new library with an option from the southwest. This route starts in Farewell Bend park and connects multi-use paths, a long stretch along the canal trail and bike lanes to the new library. Skip the hassle of circling the lot to find parking and pedal on over to the library! Coming from a different part of town? Check out our routes from the northeast and northwest from past months.
Old Mill District Summer Commute Challenge!
Commute Options has teamed up with the Old Mill District and Hayden Homes Amphitheater for a summer commute challenge!
Walk, bike, carpool, or bus to the Old Mill District or Hayden Homes Amphitheater between June 1 and September 30 to score rewards and prizes like concert tickets, gear, and a $250 grand prize gift bundle! Click the link below for more information.
Choosing a car-free option to get to and from a concert at Hayden Homes is a great way to avoid the hassle of navigating traffic and finding parking near the venue. The location of the Old Mill along the river trail makes it a very accessible destination for walking, biking and rolling. Need ideas for safe routes to the area? Follow this link to a collection of our Favorite Routes to Hayden Homes or check out our updated bike map for other ideas.
Volunteers Wanted!
Current Volunteer Opportunities
Video Editing Volunteer
Are you savvy with video editing or interested in learning? Bend Bikes is in the process of ramping up our video story-telling presence and could use your help! We are currently looking for a motivated individual to help create short and long-form videos to tell stories and educate the public about biking in Bend. We can provide training as well as a video-editing laptop. Email us at [email protected] to learn more!
Social Ride Support Volunteers
We are looking for more folks to join us on their bikes to help block traffic during our social rides and other educational rides. Our list of upcoming rides can be found here. Email us at [email protected] if your are interested in helping out!
Upcoming Events
Bike Rides and Social Events
Cycle Homies Bend Cycle Saturday
- Saturday, July 11th | meet @ 12:00pm, ride @ 12:45
- Meets at Almadorada, 180 NW Oregon Ave, Bend, OR 97703; finishes at Bend Brewing Company to watch the World Cup
- Casual pace ride open to all riders
- The kick off ride in May was a great time and a huge success and we anticipate more of the same this month!
Bend Bikes Saturday Social Ride
- Saturday, July 18th, 3:15pm
- Shevlin Park, 18920 NW Shevlin Park Rd, Bend, OR 97701, (or join the ride at the Compass Park Pavillion at 3:55pm)
- Ride bikes and socialize, while exploring new parts of Bend with fun routes to Bevel Brewing!
- Bevel is offering $4 pints to participants!
- All ages and abilities welcome
- July 2nd, 16th, 30th | meet @ 7:00pm, ride @ 8:00pm
- Dogwood at the Pine Shed, 821 NE 2nd St
- Festive, raucous, themed rides occur every other Thursday through summer
Opportunities for Public Comment and Engagement
Downtown Bend Business Association Draft Parking Plan
The DBBA recently released a draft parking plan for downtown and are requesting user feedback. We find this to be an encouraging development and hope you will take time to weigh in on the plan. At its essence the plan would eliminate most free parking and implement a progressive pricing structure that allows for, but discourages, longer-term parking.
Here is the link to the survey webpage.
In your responses, consider helping Bend Bikes advocate for:
- Paid parking to help reduce congestion and circling
- Increased use of parklets to help improve the vibrancy of downtown
- Reinvestment of parking funds to improve bicycle parking
- Friday, July 17, 2026 | 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
- ODOT Region 4 Headquarters, Baney Conference Room (63055 N. Highway 97) or via Zoom
Bend MPO Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) Meeting
- August 4, 2026 | 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM
- Hawthorne Station Conference Room (334 NE Hawthorne Ave) or via Zoom
Support Bend Bikes
As an all volunteer non-profit, your support helps us stay afloat. Your donation to Bend Bikes will help support:
- Advocacy work for the safety of people on bikes in Bend
- Community events promoting better bike infrastructure
- Our vision of a complete bike network in Bend
- Equitable access for people from all communities to bike across town
You can also email [email protected] for other options such as supporting us by volunteering your time.