The Deschutes River Trail (DRT) is the most heavily used trail in Bend, averaging more than 1,200 trail users per day, and is an important transportation and recreation amenity. Riverfront Street, between Galveston Avenue at Drake Park, to Miller’s Landing Park, is a local street that has function as the DRT for many years and is one of the last remaining “gaps” along the trail through downtown Bend.
Due to the street’s poor condition and lack of a continuous accessible route, BPRD has long sought to improve the street for trail users. BPRD began to investigate design concepts in 2014 but eventually stopped because of the unforeseen need to also rebuild the street and replace aging public utility infrastructure, which caused the project to exceed funding.
In 2023, BPRD and the City signed an intergovernmental agreement to restart the project as a joint effort lead by the City of Bend and supported by BPRD. The renewed project will seek to improve conditions for trail users as well as replace the street and other public infrastructure as needed.
The final design is almost complete. You can view the most recent plan here. Want to know more? Visit the City’s project page!
