NW 15th Street Greenway launch event

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Last Sunday evening, about 20-25 neighbors joined Lucas Freeman and Aron Yarmo, of Bend Bikes, to discuss how to calm traffic on NW 15th Street and create a Greenway which will make NW 15th safer and more pleasant to walk, bike and drive on.  A huge thank you goes out to Sonya and John Bentley for hosting the meeting in their beautiful front yard on a lovely, pre-Spring evening!  Also, credit the hard work of Sonya and Cat for canvassing their neighbors and rallying support for this concept.

These are the presentation slides we reviewed as a group.
[embeddoc url=”http://bendbikes.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/NW-15th-Greenway.pptx.pptx” download=”all” viewer=”microsoft”]

Here is a summary of what we discussed and accomplished:

  • The City of Bend has designated NW 15th Street for Greenway development, but as a result of limits on funding, staffing and political priorities, it is unlikely that the City can commence Greenway development any time soon.
  • NW 15th Street has issues now.  Neighbors are concerned about traffic volumes, traffic speeds, truck traffic, unsafe walking conditions and unsafe biking conditions.
  • Neighbors and Bend Bikes want to jump start the Greenway development process which the City has already endorsed, by;
    • Circulating a Petition to present to the city notifying Staff and Bend City Council of the neighborhood’s concerns and motivation to initiate Greenway implementation,
    • Implement a temporary pilot with actual on-the-ground Greenway devices (chicanes, mini-roundabouts, barriers, protected bike/walk lanes, etc.) to evaluate what best achieves goals, and
    • Encourage the city to endorse permanent, neighborhood-approved Greenway devices.
  • Bend Bikes will manage a NW 15th Street Greenway webpage, where people can find updates, plans, the petition, and provide input on what Greenway devices should go where.

This is your chance to help shape the future of NW 15th Street and make improvement that work for the neighborhood and the greater community.  Thanks for the great start and please help keep the Greenway momentum going!

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