This document provides information about greenhouse gas emissions in Bend, Oregon. It discusses Bend's history and current emissions profile, with transportation identified as the largest contributor. The city has established goals to improve transportation options and shift to more dense, centralized development to reduce emissions. This includes plans for enhanced biking infrastructure, expanded bus routes, and the Bend Central Westside Plan, which aims to create a mixed-use area that generates fewer vehicle trips and lower carbon emissions through smarter development.

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GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS REPORT: BEND, OR
Austin Anderson
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Table of Contents
March, 2016
Page 1 Title
Page 3 Executive Summary
Page 4 Background ­ Bend’s History
Page 5 Bend’s Current Emissions
Page 6 Transportation Goals
Page 8 Bend Transportation
Page 9 Bicycle System Map
Page 10 Bend Commute Options & Costs
Page 11 Bend Central Westside Plan
Page 12 Preferred Land Use Scenario Map
Page 13 Density and CO2 Table
Page 14 CWP Trip Data
Page 16 Portland’s Climate Strategy
Page 18 Portland/Bend Transit Maps
Page 20 Conclusion
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3.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Oregon’s Emission Background
In the year 2004, Oregon’s governor, Ted Kulongoski, laid out three goals for the state
to achieve in order to reduce carbon emissions that are still in effect, and guiding the
state today: 1) mitigate emission growth by the year 2010, 2) reduce emissions by 10%
to get below 1990 levels by the year 2020, and 3) reduce emissions by 75% to get
below 1990 levels by the year 2050. Oregon easily met the first goal the governor set
forth in 2004, but as of 2014, the state is not on track to meet the remaining two goals.
In 2010, the State of Oregon established the Oregon Sustainable Transportation
Initiative (OSTI) in order to develop and execute plans to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions, and in 2013, OSTI submitted a Statewide Transportation Strategy for
reducing greenhouse gas emissions for all Metropolitan Planning Regions in Oregon;
Bend, Central Lane,Corvallis, Rogue Valley, Salem­Keizer, Albany, Middle Rogue, and
Portland Metro.
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4.
WHERE DOES BEND STAND?
Background & Bend
Bend was incorporated as a municipality in the winter of 1905, following the construction
of the town’s first commercial sawmill; built by Pilot Butte Development Company. The
municipality was originally called “Farewell Bend,” a namesake to the Farewell Bend
Ranch, which was later shortened to the name we know today by the U.S. Postal
Service. Bend saw a steady growth in population since its inception, relying mainly on
forestry and logging as its main industry. Bend’s transformation into a tourism and
retirement destination caused the population of the city to explode; between the 2000
and 2010 census, the city saw an increase of nearly twenty­five thousand people ­­ a
47% increase. According to the Bend Transit Plan, Bend is one of the fastest growing 1
communities in the state of Oregon, with a long range population plan of 130,000 2
residents. The Bend Transit Plan addresses an issue the city is faced with this
projection, being that increased strain on infrastructure through transportation and
housing will push the city’s carbon emissions to higher levels.
1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bend,_Oregon
2
http://www.bend.or.us/index.aspx?page=759
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5.
Bend’s Current Emissions
University of California Berkeley produced an interactive map of the United States,
called CoolClimate, where one can hover over every county in the country and see the 3
carbon emissions broken up into five categories and their contribution to the county’s
overall carbon emissions:
● Transportation
● Housing
● Food
● Goods
● Services
Hovering over Central Oregon brings up Bend (and its
three different zipcodes), you see Bend’s carbon
emissions broken down, resulting in 46.2 metric tons of
CO2 emitted annually; a majority coming from
transportation. The publication ​Teton Gravity Research
published an article on America’s 10 Most­Polluted
Mountain Towns, with Bend clocking in at #7; citing the 4
lack of transportation options and congested infrastructure
as the main contributors.
3
http://coolclimate.berkeley.edu/maps
4
http://www.tetongravity.com/story/ski/americas­10­most­polluting­mountain­towns
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6.
In order to combat and curb further increases in CO2 emissions for Bend, the Bend
Metropolitan Planning Organization has been working with the City of Bend and the
State of Oregon to establish goals for the city to reach, as well as designing new
infrastructure and development plans to increase density and use of public transit;
shifting the city away from a suburban model that better suits a small town to a model of
centralized density that will better suit a city of Bend’s size.
Bend Area General Plan
In Chapter 7 of The Bend Area General Plan, produced by the City of Bend, it outlines 5
transportation goals for the city:
1. Mobility & Balance
a. Develop a transportation system that serves all modes of travel and
reduces the reliance on the automobile.
b. Provide a variety of practical and convenient means to move people and
goods within the urban area.
2. Efficiency
a. Address traffic congestion and problem areas by evaluating the broadest
range of transportation solutions.
b. Coordinate and design transportation improvements to assure the
expenditure of resources in the most cost­effective manner.
c. Encourage the development of land use patterns that provide efficient,
compact use of land, and facilitate a reduced number and length of trips.
5
http://bendoregon.gov/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=4073
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7.
3. Accessibility and Equity
a. Provide people of all income levels with the widest range of travel and
access options within the Bend urban area.
b. Provide all transportation modes access to all parts of the community.
4. Environmental
a. Recognize and respect the natural features over which transportation
improvements pass to minimize adverse impacts.
b. Design transportation improvements to preserve air and water quality,
minimize noise impacts, and encourage energy conservation.
5. Economic
a. Implement transportation improvements to foster economic development
and business vitality.
6. Livability
a. Design and locate transportation facilities to be sensitive to protecting the
livability of the community.
7. Safety
a. Design and construct the transportation system to enhance travel safety
for all modes.
These goals set by the City of Bend and Bend MPO are there to provide a clear­cut plan
on how infrastructure and transit development needs to work for the community it’s
meant to serve. Bend’s current transit plan lines out plans for more protected bike lanes
(like what is seen on Riverside Boulevard along Drake Park) and more comprehensive
bus routing than what is already in place.
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8.
Bend Transportation
In 2013, the City of Bend formed a citizen’s advisory committee with the goal to guide
the development of pedestrian and bicycling infrastructure in future city developments.
The committee, which consisted of members from the Deschutes County Commission
and the Bend City Council, drafted a Strategic Implementation Plan for Pedestrian and
Biking Infrastructure to charter their goals and objectives for future developments: 6
Biking Facilities
1. Focus on central core where densities and land use intensity are greatest
(Century Drive to Purcell; Butler Market to Reed Market; shown on map below).
2. Capitalize on private development provided infrastructure.
3. Capitalize on maintenance projects (road overlays).
4. Provide the next level of bike facility (not just a bike lane, but instead cycle
tracks, separated bike lanes and boxes).
5. Create complete streets to accommodate multimodal trips.
These goals and objectives were lined out and agreed upon by committee members
after a public forum, where the next steps to get them included in future development
plans included developing a design RFP (request for proposal) to provide concept
designs for the projects, creating a budget system that would result in construction of
projects, and establishing funding for on­going bicycle system upkeep.
6
http://bendoregon.gov/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentID=24252
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9.
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10.
Comprehensive and smart planning for biking and pedestrian infrastructure requires
more than sidewalks and bike lanes; it requires smart planning from the ground up. The
Bend Central Westside Plan aims to create smart and dense development, resulting in
shorter commute times, less vehicle miles traveled, and ultimately, less vehicles on the
road; all contributing to lowering greenhouse gas emissions in Bend. Below is a table 7
created by Commute Options showing the various commute variables and their cost in
fuel, CO2 emissions, and cost to the consumer:
Commute Option Lbs. of Pollution Per
Mile
Fuel Used Per
Mile (Gallons)
Cost Per Mile Comments
Driving Alone 9 lbs. 0.05 $0.37 Includes fuel,
maintenance,
insurance,
registration, and
taxes
Carpool 0.5 lbs. 0.025 $0.18 Assumes two people
per vehicle
Vanpool 0.17 lbs. 0.009 $0.05 Based on seven
people per van
Bus 0.7 lbs. 0.03 $0.22 Data from FTA
Bicycle 0 lbs. 0 0 Human powered
Walk 0 lbs. 0 0 Human powered
Telecommute 0 lbs. 0 0 Eliminates trips
Compressed
Work Week
0 lbs. 0 0 Eliminates trips
7
Couldn’t find a URL for this table, powerpoint provided by Jeff Monson at Commute Options
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11.
Bend Central Westside Plan
The Bend Central Westside Plan is the premiere long­term plan created in response to
the growing strain on infrastructure and housing in Bend . The plan was created in 8
recognition to the link between land use patterns and transportation system planning;
being that mixed use development (similar to what you’d see in downtown Seattle and
Portland), higher density development, and comprehensive transportation planning for
all modes of transit result in less car trips made per day, meaning less carbon emissions
put into the air. The developers of the CWP cite four core outcomes that should be
expected from carrying out the CWP:
1. Change the General Plan Map Designation of the southern study area to
Mixed Use:​ This change will occur as part of the Urban Growth Boundary
expansion.
2. Modest density increases along Newport Avenue and 14th Street:​ This
includes residential density increases in a small area between Newport and
Portland avenues, and directly along 14th Street.
3. No land use changes along Galveston Avenue.
4. A broad set of transportation performance measures that focus on
connectivity and mobility for all users: ​Measures include system
completeness, safety, capacity, and travel time reliability.
8
http://bendoregon.gov/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentID=27082
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12.
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13.
Density & Carbon Emissions
The Bend Central Westside Plan relies heavily on the connection that higher density
development coupled with complete transit systems leads to lower carbon emissions.
While it’s easy to take the data presented in City presentations, there’s a need to delve
a little deeper. In a report produced by Georgetown Climate Center , different levels of 9
densities were listed with their respective density ranges, annual VMT (vehicle miles
traveled), and average CO2 emitted per mile:
Bend’s population density, as of 2010, is 2,335 people per square mile , and according 10
to Georgetown’s constraints, that puts the city at the ‘Medium Urban’ category, where
emissions are lower than Suburban and Rural densities, but not as low as they could
be; especially taking into account Bend’s projected population increase. This data
further supports the CWP’s goal of adding more density to main corridors in order to
curb carbon emissions.
9
http://www.georgetownclimate.org/files/GCC­Reducing_GHG_Emissions_from_Transportation­11.24.15.pdf
10
http://www.areavibes.com/bend­or/demographics/
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14.
The length of vehicle trips and the number of vehicle
trips per day are two figures that are focused on
when surveying the usefulness of density­centric
development in the CWP and Bend overall. As
mentioned previously, the link between higher
density development and an increase in multimodal
transit is what the CWP focuses on, providing the
data below , comparing the current zoning densities 11
with the preferred land use scenario described
earlier.
11
http://bendoregon.gov/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentID=27082
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15.
As the data shows, with increased density working hand in hand with complete transit
systems, individual vehicle trips drop, which results in less CO2 being put into the air by
personal automobiles.
In Figure 5, internal trips refers to trips made within the constraints of the CWP, which
tend to be shorter trips that can easily be made by cycling or walking. While vehicular
trips increase with the preferred land use scenario, multi­use development results in
less vehicle miles traveled; so residents are traveling less distance for goods and
services.
Figure 6 illustrates this point, with total vehicle miles traveled within the CWP drops 8%
from current zoning restrictions. As stated before, with multi­use development, residents
are able to run their errands and travel less distance than what they do now with the
current zoning.
The point illustrated by Figure 7 is that in the preferred land use scenario, since
complete transit systems are an overarching objective for the CWP, more trips made
within the CWP will be made with transit per household than made with current zoning
and transit restrictions.
Finally, Figure 8 shows that with a more centralized and multi­use development plan,
household transportation costs decrease by a margin of almost 7%. This is because
residential areas are built with more ease of access to commercial centers, as well as
being intermixed with shops and services, resulting in less of a need to drive further to
go grocery shopping, etc.
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16.
Portland’s Climate Strategy
Oregon as a state is considered to be very progressive in terms of environmental policy
to combat climate change, and Portland is revered as the premiere city leading the
charge. Bend is quite progressive for a city its size, however, there’s
always something new to learn and apply from the Rose City . 12
Portland’s combat against climate change began in 2009 with the
formation of the Climate Smart Strategy in response to a mandate
from the Oregon Legislature to reduce per capita greenhouse gas
emissions from cars and small trucks by 2035. The development
and implementation of this strategy was done in three phases.
1. Phase 1​ began in 2011 and concluded in early 2012. This
phase consisted of strategy testing at the regional level to
determine which strategies would effectively help the region
reach its emissions goal.
2. Phase 2​ began in 2012 and concluded in October of 2013.
During this phase, Metro worked with regional technical,
policy advisory committees, and business and community
leaders to shape three approaches and criteria used to
evaluate them.
3. Phase 3​ began in November of 2013 and concluded in
December of 2014. The Metro Council adopted the region’s
Climate Smart Strategy with unwavering support from local
and state government partners.
12
http://www.oregonmetro.gov/sites/default/files/ClimateSmartStrategy­FinalVersion­2014.PDF
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The goal of the Climate Smart Strategy is to demonstrate leadership on climate change
by meeting agreed upon goals and targets for reducing carbon emissions and
greenhouse gasses from light­duty vehicles while creating strong communities and
economies.
An overview of the strategies recommended in the Climate Smart Strategy:
1. Implement adopted local and regional land use plans.
2. Make transit convenient, frequent, affordable, and accessible.
3. Make biking and walking safe and convenient.
4. Make highways and streets safe, reliable, and connected.
5. Use technology to actively manage the transportation system.
6. Provide information and incentives to expand the use of travel options.
7. Make efficient use of vehicle parking and land dedicated to parking.
8. Support Oregon’s transition to cleaner, low­carbon fuels and more fuel­efficient
vehicles.
9. Secure adequate funding for transportation investments.
Reading through the Climate Smart Strategy’s objectives, they’re a close call to the
goals lined out in the Bend Area General Plan. Making transit accessible, securing
funding, and providing incentives to using different modes of transportation are goals
that both cities cite as important to creating an environmentally friendly, carbon reducing
city; but considering the differing sizes of the respective urban areas, these goals are
likely playing out in different ways, perhaps even more successfully in one city than the
other.
Transit
Anybody that has visited Portland will tell you that the transit system throughout the city
has improved by leaps and bounds; the MAX now runs miles in each direction (though
comprehensive coverage outside of the city core has some catching up to do), and most
transit is timely and relatively affordable. Compared to Bend’s still­developing system,
Portland’s has it beat by miles. Below are two transit maps for Portland and Bend ; 13 14
Portland has noticeably more coverage, even though Bend is much smaller.
13
http://www.oregonmetro.gov/sites/default/files/ClimateSmartStrategy­FinalVersion­2014.PDF
14
http://www.cascadeseasttransit.com/bend­bus­schedule/bend­schedule.html
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Such a comprehensive transit network can benefit Bend the same way it has benefitted
Portland; although Bend doesn’t have the infrastructure for light rail like the MAX, but it
does have the advantage of having the bare bones of a bus system. The city currently
has 12 different bus lines servicing different parts of the city, but those lines are limited
in where they run ­­ typically along main arterial thoroughfares, where Portland has
main roads as well as secondary roads covered. Providing park­and­ride lots, like what
exists on Columbia Street on the Westside, for nearby residents to be able to drive short
distances and still be able to take advantage of transit if they don’t live near a main
route. Not too long ago, Bend held the title as the largest city on the West Coast without
a bus system, so this expansion on what currently exists will help reap more benefits ­­
like lower emissions from personal automobiles ­­ for the city.
Travel/Commute Incentives
Portland Metro employs multiple modes of outreach to incentivize people to use
different forms of transit in the city to increase the efficiency of the city’s transit system.
Strategies like public awareness, commuter programs, and transit tools are just a few
ways Metro gets people to get out of their cars and use multimodal forms of transit.
Public awareness at the most basic level is public education about transit and
eco­driving; keeping vehicles maintained to be the most efficient and engaging efficient
driving habits (completing all errands at the same time rather than making multiple
trips). Organizations in Bend, like the Environmental Center, do fantastic jobs at
educating the public, but it seems like the peak interest happens at special events like
Earth Day. Year round public awareness campaigns can keep different commute
strategies present in Bend’s mind, rather than a revolving fad at certain times of the
year. Portland also uses employer­based programs to incentivize employees to use
transit through transit pass programs, offering special parking for bicycles, and setting
up employee carpool programs. The City of Bend employees these similar strategies for
their employees, but as a whole, the city could benefit from offering similar programs
across different sectors and industries.
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20.
Conclusion
Throughout the research performed, it was obvious that Bend’s journey to creating a
community and city with reduced carbon emissions is a relatively new and fresh idea.
Supplemental data was useful to drive points home for Bend specifically, and much of
the city’s new infrastructure is still new or under construction, so there isn’t a whole lot
of data present for infrastructure as well.
But what was apparent is the city’s dedication to creating a sustainable community with
comprehensive transit and density that can maximize the precious space we have to
build on, while also taking advantage of new technology and planning to make
multi­use, walkable, and clean spaces. The other important aspect to making this
happen ­­ the citizens of Bend ­­ also appear to be warming up to the idea of making an
environmentally sound city, even though it’s not a process that happens overnight.
Portland obviously leads the state in green development, but it’s essentially comparing
apples to oranges because Portland is such an enormous metro area compared to
Bend, the funding and support takes a little more work on this side of the mountains. But
after researching, interviewing, and doing even more researching for these last few
months, it’s not even a question as to if Bend is capable of becoming an
environmentally sound city and community, it’s a matter of when.
And from what has been seen, it’s not too far off in the future.
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