Vehicles navigate a section of U.S. Highway 97 near Vandevert Road on Wednesday, June 1, 2022. A $25 million project, which included new lanes, a redesigned intersection at Vandevert and a wildlife undercrossing, is nearly complete.  

SUNRIVER — The Oregon Department of Transportation is wrapping up a $25 million project that includes a wildlife crossing and realignment of lanes along a 3-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 97 near Sunriver.

The project included widening the road and paving the new northbound alignment between S. Century Drive and Vandevert Road, and ODOT is finishing the striping and rumble strips, a process expected to take about a month, said Peter Murphy, a spokesperson for ODOT.

ODOT created two new northbound lanes and converted the existing two lanes of highway into southbound lanes. It also redesigned the highway’s intersection with Vandevert Road, allowing drivers turning north to cross the median instead of crossing southbound traffic and merging into northbound lanes at the same time.

The project also included installation of a wildlife undercrossing, which is complete with the exception of fencing needed to direct wildlife to use the crossing. The undercrossing permits wildlife to cross the highway without risk of an accident. According to ODOT, an undercrossing near Lava Butte south of Bend reduced collisions with wildlife in the area by as much as 85%.

The section of highway is now open to traffic, but the final touches will require periodically closing down a single lane, Murphy said.

“The heavy lifting is done on the whole project,” Murphy said. “There will be intermittent closures at night at the beginning of the week to finish up the striping and rumble strips.”

Murphy said with the exception of the single-lane closures at night, there will not be any major interruptions to traffic as ODOT finishes the project. Murphy said the area is a hotspot for animal migrations, and ODOT hopes to have the fencing done in time for the fall migration.

“Putting the fencing in, that is the final stage to get the animals to go the direction we want them to go,” Murphy added. “Mostly the migration to the mountains is over… we are preparing for the fall migration.”