Midtown Crossings: Franklin Avenue
Improving the Midtown Crossings is key to the Bend Central District’s transition into a vibrant, healthy, and inclusive mixed-use neighborhood with safe connections between east and west.
Bend's recently adopted Transportation System Plan will move the City toward a transportation system that works for everybody. We need safe and convenient Midtown Crossings for bikes and pedestrians at Franklin, Hawthorne, Greenwood, and Olney as part of the City’s goal for a safe and connected transportation system.
The Franklin Avenue Corridor
The Franklin Corridor is a key east-west connection between Downtown Bend and the Bend Central District with thousands of people walking and bikingthrough it on a weekly basis despite a lack of signage, lighting, and connectivity.
In 2019, we partnered with the late artist Kaycee Anseth to install her mural “Two for Joy” on the north side of the underpass. Now, ProyectoMural is almost ready to be installed on the south side of the underpass!
These mural projects are part of a larger grassroots community effort to reimagine the Franklin Ave Corridor as a safe, welcoming, and vibrant public space.
Current state of Franklin tunnel.
Rendering of what an improved approach to the tunnel could look like: straight sightlines, lighting, street trees, crosswalk. Donated by Vallier Design Associates.
Potential Synergy Project
The City of Bend plans to spend somewhere around $4 million on stormwater drainage in the Franklin underpass to stop the flooding events that happen every year. Instead, we could improve the streetscapes with green infrastructure like street trees, swales with rain gardens, and permeable pavers. We worked with Ashley & Vance Engineering to calculate that a simple 15% reduction in asphalt paving in the BCD would reduce stormwater volume in the Franklin underpass by 4 million gallons.
It's Been Done Before
Check out how the City used green infrastructure to mitigate stormwater flooding of the 3rd street underpass in 2014:
Third Street underpass staying dry by The Bulletin
Third Street underpass stormwater project map and info from City of Bend
Historical image of 3rd Street flooding.
Image from 2009.