Final Project Summary

For my final project, I am focusing on super cycle highways and how they provide access to the city from the city. Along with that, the way that bike infrastructure as a whole provides accessibility to and from less accessible small towns and rural areas is my other focus. I am hoping to combine these findings with my experiences growing up in the area and focus to provide a map and description of how I would change Central Oregon, integrating bike infrastructure throughout Bend and outside of it, as well as increasing access to limited access areas due to the influence and control of cars. 

With help, I have photoshopped some images from intersections in Central Oregon without bike infrastructure and added elements of bike paths and crossings where I think they should be added. 

This image shows the intersection of old Bend Redmond Highway and Tumalo Road, an intersection I used to go through every day, which has recently been made into a roundabout to be safer but contains no bike lanes or crossings. 

 

This image shows, in red, where I would place bike lanes in order to navigate and cross this intersection, as well as yield signs on the bike lanes so cyclists know when they have the right of way. This intersection in particular is quite interesting because it seems that there is already space for bike lanes laid out, but that was not what was created. It almost seems like the perfect opportunity to add some great bike infrastructure in rural Central Oregon….

Something great about rural roads is that many of them are already very wide and spacious. Too much space in many instances, causes people to drive too fast. Here is just a simple picture I photoshopped of an area on Cline Falls Highways where I would add one-way bike lanes on each side because the space is already there. This would allow bikes a safer, more obvious place to ride, and would slow down car traffic, making the road seem slimmer due to the red color, preventing drivers from cutting corners and driving outside of their lane. 

In terms of cycle superhighways, I would love to integrate them everywhere. I found cycle superhighways to be one of the most amazing pieces of infrastructure in Denmark and the Netherlands, connecting places that were once only reachable by car. I created a simple map of where I would add cycle super highways throughout Central Oregon, starting from a “hub” within the downtown area, creating connectedness, and following paths that are already commonly cycled on by many road cyclists. These cycle superhighways would connect towns like Sisters and Bend through the rural roads in between, allowing access between the two, but also bringing access by bike to everyone living in between the two towns.

Central Oregon is one of the best places to live, and it already provides breathtaking views, countless recreational opportunities, and a town made to a human scale. These are the main reasons why Bend and the surrounding areas would benefit from a connected network of cycling infrastructure, bringing accessibility to everyone throughout the area.