City receives $1.5 million for connector road

The City of Pendleton has received $1.5 million to help construct the Highway 11/30 Connector Road to open land for housing development.

“The City of Pendleton is thrilled with this news,” Mayor John Turner said. “This funding will allows us to build an arterial road through an undeveloped area that can potentially hold more than 1000 houses --which is much needed in our community.”

The yet-unnamed road would connect Oregon Highway 11 to Oregon Highway 30 using a portion of SE Kirk Avenue, near I-84 Exit 210, and Goad Road. The project will also add an extension to link the connector road with Franklin Grade. The area of the connector road and the north extension is experiencing considerable interest in development, and the new street will open 250 acres of land in southeast Pendleton for workforce housing and commercial development.

Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden announced on Thursday they secured funding for essential community projects across Oregon in Congress’s fiscal year 2023 omnibus appropriations package, which includes the $1.5 million for the Highway 11/30 Housing Expansion project.

Other northeast Oregon projects include $1.7 million for Umatilla and Morrow counties to address drinking water contamination of private wells; $700,000 for facility improvements at the Pendleton Agricultural Research Service Station; and $6 million to Camp Umatilla for housing facilities construction. Read more about the funding here.