The Combs Flat Road extension features off-road paths and sidewalks and signalized pedestrian crossings in multiple locations. (Jason Chaney/Central Oregonian)

Prineville is about to finally gain another major arterial in its road system with the completion and opening of the Combs Flat Road extension.

The long-awaited extension of the road from just north of Barnes Butte Elementary School to the east end of Peters Road will open to vehicle traffic on Friday, July 11, at 11 a.m. The city will celebrate the occasion with a ribbon cutting earlier that morning.

The extension has been a part of the city of Prineville’s transportation system plan since 2008. Around that time, various residential developments accessed off of North Main Street had grown to a point where it was adversely affecting traffic flow. The intent of the extension is to alleviate the increasing traffic on North Main Street caused by development off of Peters Road.

“North Main has been the only practical, existing way to connect people in the northern neighborhoods to the commercial core of town,” said Casey Kaiser, the city’s public works director and assistant city manager. “This Combs Flat Road extension will provide a second way for all those residents to get to town, and it is anticipated to relieve traffic congestion on Third Street and just be a critical bypass for the community.

Several developments in recent years have enabled the project to move forward. The first of these was when the city purchased 640 acres of Barnes Butte area property. The primary purposes behind the purchase at the time was to gain the water rights on the property and to provide more recreational space for residents to enjoy.

More recently, the project was spurred forward by a partnership with Ochoco Irrigation District that enabled the district to pipe open canal in the Barnes Butte area, thereby eliminating the need and added cost of building bridges over the canal. The canal piping portion of the project was completed in April.

As city officials designed the road and determined its path, they tried to keep it as far to the west and south as possible to leave as much of the recreation area untouched by the road as possible.

“The whole area to the northeast of the road, there are no plans to develop that,” Kaiser stressed. “That is set aside by the city for recreational purposes.”

The new portion of road includes two intersections – one at Rimrock Road, which will also serve as the new access to the Barnes Butte Recreation Area parking lot, and Hudspeth Road, which is a three-way roundabout. The sidewalks and asphalt bicycle and pedestrian paths are set back several feet from the street, and signalized crosswalks with rapid rectangular flashing beacons have been installed at road intersections as well as any recreational path that crosses the road. Kaiser noted that the extension provides the community a “critical bicycle and pedestrian path” from the northern neighborhoods to Prineville’s commercial core.

“Having the ability to alleviate some of the traffic from the subdivisions on the northeast side of town is going to be very beneficial to the residents of that area,” said Prineville Mayor Jason Beebe. “Also, the community will still have a safe route to access the Barnes Butte property and recreational area, which seems to be very popular.  Altogether, this is such a wonderful project for the city and for the irrigation district to pipe the canal and free up some of that area for recreational uses. This was a team effort between multiple agencies and proves that we can work together to get the job done. ”