Bend Oregon: Roundabout Art

Bend, Oregon is a beautiful, vibrant city, with ample opportunities for outdoor and indoor recreation and culture.  Driving through Bend, we noticed a couple of things:

1. They love "roundabouts."  (For us Texas folks, we know them as "Traffic Circles."; and
2. They love to put ART in the roundabouts.

Traffic Circles were once used in the U.S., but fell from favor by Traffic Engineers.  However the "modern" roundabout began to receive more favorable attention in the U.S. during the 1990's and you are beginning to see more and more of these critters.  In the modern roundabout, traffic already in the roundabout has the right-of-way; entering traffic must yield to anyone already in the circle.  All turns from a roundabout are right hand turns.  If you get lost, you just keep circling the wagons until you finally chose one of four exits.  Still a little confusing, but heck; it's not any more confusing or dangerous than 4 folks coming to a standard 4-way stop intersection, then playing guts poker to see which one of you goes first.

Anyway, no extra charge for that little factoid of traffic engineering trivia.  

Bend has placed a lot of effort into roundabouts and has created a non-profit organization "Art in Public Places" with a mission of, not surprisingly, placing art in public places throughout Bend.  CLICK HERE for a link to this organization.  

This organization has sponsored art in at least 20 roundabouts in the Bend area.  CLICK HERE for a brochure for the roundabout art.  

Here are some photos we took this morning while on our own roundabout tour through Bend:

Going in circles now?  Stay tuned.