Sidewalks
Sidewalks are pretty common in all towns. Bend has them on most large streets and in some neighborhoods. Property owners are responsible for maintenance of the sidewalks in front of their house.
In Oregon, bikes are generally allowed to ride on sidewalks. This is true in Bend except for in the Downtown area where bikes must be walked or ridden in the vehicle lane. (Downtown is so busy it’s hard to ride on those sidewalks anyway!)
Sidewalks are not one-way; bikes can go in both directions regardless of what side of the street the sidewalk is on. Bikes do have to yield to walkers, and are required to slow down when passing people.
Technically, if a sidewalk in Bend is more than 6 feet wide, it is considered a multi-use path. In practice though, because bikes ride on both types of infrastructure in the same way, it doesn’t make too much of a difference (and nobody is riding around town measuring sidewalk widths!)
Community Feedback
Things to love
- Sidewalks feel safe because they are separated from cars by curbs
- They usually don’t fill up with gravel in the winter because the vehicle lanes are far away
- Sidewalks are (usually) plowed in the winter
Improvement areas
- Not everyone knows that bikes are allowed on sidewalks. The city could help with education in this area.
- Most people don’t know that wider sidewalks are actually multi-use paths
- Walkers aren’t usually looking for bikes on sidewalks (even wide ones) making it harder to pass
- The surface isn’t smooth and the bumpiness can be hard on kids or dogs in trailers
- They aren’t always wide enough for trailers
- Some sidewalks are in bad condition and so are really hard to bike or walk on. They can also end abruptly without any warnings.
- Because each sidewalk is the responsibility of the property it’s on – not all sidewalks are cleared of snow in the winter. The city should better enforce sidewalk snow removal and/or the city should be responsible for clearing snow (at least in key biking/walking areas).