Favorite (Non-Favorite but Necessary) Route: Shopping on SE 3rd St
Sometimes you’ve got to go shopping. And much of the shopping in Bend is hard to get to by bike. That is certainly true for the area on SE 3rd St south of Reed Market which has many important stores including the Factory Stores, Walmart, Safeway, Fred Meyers, Goodwill along with many restaurants and medical facilities. You can even buy a car in this area. But how to get there and how to navigate the area? We recommend this trek for confident riders who are able to improvise by using parking lots and sidewalks to avoid traveling along or cross SE 3rd St itself but still want to access all the important places along this busy, auto-dominated corridor. This is our favorite route to shopping in this area but not a “favorite” route for anything but necessary travel.
Getting to the area
This shopping area serves the entire city so you can approach it from many directions. Once in the area, there is a loop around the shopping area from which you can access all the businesses.
Overview of the favorite non-favorite route to the SE 3rd St shopping area. The light blue routes are for approaching the area and the dark blue is a loop around the area so you can approach places of interest while crossing SE 3rd as little as possible.
- Murphy Road: Use Murphy Road to approach this area from the southeast. This is a busy street but it has good bike lanes. Access businesses on the east side of SE 3rd St from Parrell Rd. To get to the west side of SE 3rd St, turn onto Old Murphy Rd, cut through the parking lot by the Mobile Station and cross SE 3rd at the crosswalk at Pinebrook Blvd.
- Reed Market: Use Reed Market to approach the area from the east. From SE 15th and Reed Market, ride west along the multi-use path along the south side of Reed Market. Cross American Lane at the traffic light and veer left onto the Canal Trail. To access the east side of SE 3rd St, turn left onto Brosterhous Rd and right onto Parrell Rd. To access the west side of SE 3rd St, cross Brosterhous Rd, cross SE 3rd St at the crosswalk and continue on the Canal Trail under the Parkway to Blakely Rd, Turn left onto Blakely, a safe way to get to the businesses on the west side of SE 3rd.
- SE Wilson Ave and SE 5th St: To access the area from the northeast, come down SE 8th or SE 15th to SE Wilson Ave. Ride west on SE Wilson Ave and just past the railroad tracks turn left onto SE 5th St. Cross Reed Market at the crosswalk and take the Canal Trail to Brosterhous Rd as described in the Reed Market approach.
- Pinebrook Blvd or Badger Rd: From the Brookswood area or Deschutes River Wood, ride on Brookswood Blvd and turn east onto Pinebrook Blvd or Badger Rd. You can get on Blakely Rd or continue east to SE 3rd.
- Silver Lake and the Canal Trail: To get to this area from all of west Bend, starting in downtown, ride south on SW Wall St to Industrial Way. Turn east on the dogbone on Industrial Way and join SW Bond St. Ride past the Old Mill to the roundabout at Wilson. Go through the roundabout as if you’re turning east on Wilson and get on the sidewalk traveling south on Bond. Just past the Marriott Residence Inn, turn left onto the gravel path that goes up to SW Silver Lake Blvd. Turn right onto Silver Lake, right again on SW Roosevelt Ave, and left on SW Chamberlain. Cross Reed Market at the crosswalk and continue on Chamberlain to Silver Lake. Turn right onto Silver Lake.
To get to the north part of the SE 3rd shopping corridor or the east side of SE 3rd, turn left onto SW Garfield. Towards the end of the street, take the path between two houses up to the Canal Trail. Turn east on the Canal Trail to SE 3rd St. and either cross 3rd to get to Parrell Rd or turn onto SE 3rd St, cross the bridge over the canal and turn into the parking lot near Fred Meyer.
To get to shopping farther south along SE 3rd, continue along SW Silver Lake until it turns into SW Blakely Rd. Continue south along Blakely until you get close to your target store or restaurant.
The Loop
Most people shouldn’t be riding along SE 3rd St in this area. But a loop around this shopping area will get you close to any point of interest. The loop consists of
- Parrell Rd on the east
- The Canal Trail along the north side. There is a good crossing of SE 3rd St with a flashing pedestrian light.
- Blakely Rd on the west side
- Pinebrook Blvd and Old Murphy Rd along the south side
From the west side, you must cross the Parkway to get to SE 3rd St. The Canal Trail goes under the Parkway. Powers Rd, Badger Rd, and Pinebrook Blvd all have crossings with a traffic signal or a flashing pedestrian light. The crossing at Badger Rd is a bit strange: you cross the south bound lane of the Parkway on the north side of the intersection, turn south along the median, and cross the north bound lane on the south side of the intersection.
Plan your trip to cross SE 3rd as little as possible. The crossings on the Canal Trail and Pinebrook Blvd both have flashing pedestrian lights. There are traffic lights at both Badger Rd and Powers Rd so it is possible to cross there.
A closer look at the “loop” of streets you can use to approach the shopping area along SE 3rd St.
Shopping
From the loop, choose the best way to approach the place you want to go. On the east side, from Parrell Rd, there are many driveways and parking lots that allow you to get to any place without traveling on SE 3rd. On the west side, from SW Blakely, you’ll need to ride in on the Canal Trail, Powers Rd, Badger Rd, or Pinebrook Blvd. In just about all cases you can get to stores, restaurants along SE 3rd St by using driveways and parking lots off those side streets or using the sidewalks for short distances until you can get into a parking lot.
This is a challenging area to get to and to navigate on bike. But with careful planning you can shop here and enjoy the other services, restaurants, and medical facilities without a car. The more stores see people on bicycles, the more likely they are to support better biking infrastructure around them.