Vote Yes on Measure 9-135, Bend’s Transportation Bond
For two years, City staff, consultants and a 22-member Citywide Transportation Advisory Committee (CTAC) worked on a long-range plan for Bend’s transportation future. With your help, we worked hard to make sure this plan emphasized moving people rather than just moving cars by prioritizing safety, walking, biking and transit improvements.
Now, we need your help to translate the plan into action by voting Yes! on Measure 9-135, Bend’s Transportation Bond, when you receive your ballot in the mail this week
If approved by votes, Measure 9-135 will invest over $60 million in improving safety, walking, biking and transit over the next ten years. That’s the biggest investment in these parts of our transportation system in Bend’s history.
Here’s a few examples of Bendites who will benefit.
- A 5th grader on their way to school or a friend’s house for some afternoon play.
- A solo parent who can’t afford a car and needs to be at work on time.
- A retired couple on their early morning walk, trying to cross a busy road because the sidewalk ends abruptly on their side of the street.
- A young professional who lives in mid-town, works downtown, and rides their bike to work.
How will Measure 9-135 help these folks?
It will improve over 20 intersection bottlenecks that are currently unsafe for pedestrians and cyclists. It will build new sidewalks and safe road crossings near schools and bus stops. It will complete 12 north-south and east-west walking and biking routes, including new crossings over the parkway and railroad tracks in Bend’s core. And it will provide $8 million for the Neighborhood Safety Program, where local neighborhoods get to choose new safety investments in their part of town.
Equally important, all of these investments will help reduce climate pollution. Transportation is the largest source of climate pollution in Oregon. When people feel safe they are more likely to start walking and biking and reduce how much they drive. And improved traffic flow means we’ll spend less time in our cars when we do drive. Together, that means less miles driven and less fossil fuels burned.
The bottom-line is that Measure 9-135 will make needed investments that are good for all of us, whether we drive, ride a bike, walk or take a bus. And they’re good for the environment too.
Please vote YES on Measure 9-135.
And The Environmental Center isn’t the only nonprofit organization who endorses measure 9-135. These other organizations do, too!
- Central Oregon LandWatch
- Bend Bikes
- Central Oregon Conservation Network
- Central Oregon Wheelers
- Oregon League of Conservation Voters
- 1000 Friends of Oregon
- Juniper Group, Oregon Sierra Club
- Oregon Environmental Council
Please vote Yes! on Measure 9-135.
Learn more about Measure 9-135 here: