Bend MPO reports 2,500 public safety comments; congestion and crossings top concerns

A Bend MPO project presenter summarized Phase 1 public engagement for the local Transportation Safety and Operations Plan at the July 17 policy board meeting, saying staff collected more than 2,500 unique mapping or survey comments and about 100 in-person interactions. The outreach included an interactive map, a short survey, three in-person events and paper open-house forms available in Spanish.

"We heard from more people and got more comments than the city's last transportation system plan engagement," the presenter said, noting broad neighborhood outreach and targeted Spanish-language outreach. Participation skewed older, with strong representation in the 30–45 age group; organizers noted underrepresentation of younger residents and some Hispanic/Latino respondents relative to population share.

Public input clustered around congestion and speeding as primary concerns, followed by confusing design, problematic turning movements, difficult crossings for people walking and biking, poor lighting and gaps in sidewalks and bikeways. Participants identified specific locations for study, including US 97 at Empire and Reed Market, Greenwood/3rd, Wall/Olney and Greenwood/Wall.

Staff told the board they compared public input with crash data and that the two datasets generally aligned; in response to comments, Greenwood/Wall was added for further study even though it was not a top crash-data site. Ten sites have consultant funding for additional study, and staff proposed visualizing comment density so the MPO and city staff can better correlate perceptions and crash data for project prioritization.

Phase 2 engagement is planned for fall and will ask for public feedback on proposed crash emphasis areas, high-priority locations and countermeasures. The presenter reminded board members the public comment period for the statewide TSAP draft runs through July 31 and said the MPO can submit formal comments or letters for the record.

Board discussion emphasized enforcement capacity and local implementation: members urged stronger local direction on enforcement and noted federal guidance changes that may affect funding eligibility for some countermeasures. Staff said they will follow up on the federal guidance changes and consider outreach improvements for underrepresented groups in phase 2.