Note: image included above is the re-engineered Option 3 from the 2024 bid package.
This project will reconstruct the portion of Northwest Despain Avenue between Main Street and Northwest Seventh Street.
Northwest Despain Avenue is an older street that has deteriorated to the point that it needs a full reconstruction. The current format of the street is out of compliance with city codes and considered substandard.
In April 2024, Pendleton City Council received bid information and updated drawings for the "Option 3" design, shown above, and approved a bidder for the project. Work is expected to begin in July 2024.
Background information:
In early planning for the reconstruction of Despain, City staff and engineers worked to bring the street into compliance. For the type of street Northwest Despain Avenue is used as, there are two options in the code, known as Option 1 and Option 2:
- Repaving the street to a 32-foot span, adding ADA accessible curb ramps and bulb-out curbs to slow traffic as well as additional storm drainage systems. This option would expand the travel lanes to 12 feet in each direction.
- Repaving the street to a 36-foot span, adding ADA accessible curb ramps, bulb-out curbs to slow traffic, and on-street parking on the North side of the road as well as additional storm drainage systems. This option would reduce the travel lanes to 10 feet in each direction.
Because city staff believes the larger travel lanes could increase traffic speeds on an already problematic road, they recommended the second option, which provides additional natural traffic controls through on-street parking on both sides of the road and a more narrow travel lane.
“Besides our 75-plus years of engineering work in this field, there are many samples and studies that can be found on the web supporting bulb-outs for traffic calming,” Public Works Director Bob Patterson said.
During a City Council work session in 2023, community members petitioned for a third option, known as Option 3:
- Repaving the street in its current 30-foot span, adding ADA accessible curb ramps as well as additional storm drainage systems. This option would keep the travel lanes at the existing 11 feet in each direction.
The City Council consider three options for the reconstruction of Despain Avenue and selected Option 3 in April 2023.
In addition to the street rebuilding and repaving, the reconstruction of Northwest Despain Avenue, regardless of which width option is selected, will require new curbs and gutters to meet standards, new storm drainage systems to meet standards, freeze/thaw protection of the street and installation of new ADA ramps with bulb-outs to meet federal requirements.
Northwest Despain is classified as a collector, a moderately busy road that helps move local traffic onto major roads, called arterials. If Northwest Despain Avenue was built brand new in 2023, the road would be 48 feet wide from curb to curb and designed with no on-street parking, two 12-foot travel lanes, one center turn lane, and two bike lanes with a 35-mph speed limit. Instead, the current configuration for Northwest Despain is 30 feet wide from curb to curb with two 11-foot travel lanes, one 8-foot parking lane, no turning lane, and no bike lanes.
Because of its existing configuration, Northwest Despain functions not as a collector but as a neighborhood major residential street. The straight street still has the feel of a connector, however, so traffic tends to drive more quickly than the 25 mph speed limit for a residential street. Instead of reconstructing Northwest Despain as a connector road, City Staff opted to reconstruct it under the neighborhood major residential street guidelines, which, per ordinance and road design table, offers two options:
1. Widening the street by two feet to build out a 32-foot curb-to-curb street with two 12-foot travel lanes and one 8-foot parking lane if additional off-street parking is provided and it is located in steep terrain; otherwise,
2. Widening the street by six feet to build out a 36-foot curb-to-curb street with two 10-foot travel lanes and two 8-foot parking lanes as it does not have additional off-street parking and is not located in steep terrain.
City staff has proposed Option 2 in order to meet the reconstruction needs of the road, bring it into compliance, and improve traffic calming, or slowing, within the project area.
Additional information is available in the FAQ document attached below.
Intersection of NW Despain and 5th Street
Pendleton, OR 97801
United States
Project Milestones
Engineering designs completed at an estimated cost of $900,000 + Option Specific Costs ($10,000-$30,000)
Pendleton City Council votes to rebuild the street in its current formation, not extending the street.
Revised engineering completed with the "Option 3" design. Project estimate revised from $900,000 to $1,444,040
Five bids received for the project, notice of intent to award bid issued for low bidder Bolen Construction LLC Hermiston, OR, for $1,138,394.50
Contractors begin grinding work to rebuild seven blocks of roadway.
Road re-opened with primary completion. Restorative and decorative steps ongoing.
