Word came down yesterday that the new Chick-fil-A on the far north end of town has its opening date: Thursday, January 23.

I know everyone’s excited.

The article about the opening on Central Oregon Daily also touches on the inevitable traffic issues:

The popular chain is expected to be busy, not just during opening week, but year round. What happens to an already busy parking lot when it does open? How will traffic flow through the area? Well that’s where the city comes in.

“We discussed the potential impacts of the opening day,” said Ryan Oster with the City of Bend. “They have a couple plans in place and number one is to try and maximize as much of the space on the interior lot as they can. And then if it does bleed out into the public right of way, we’ll implement the second phase of that plan which is actually utilizing a lot of Nels Anderson Road.”

There will be two options for drivers coming off of Robal Road with one route for those who want to dine in, and another for those who want to go through the drive thru.

When In-N-Out opened in Keizer last month, city officials warned excited patrons that the wait could be hours long.

Despite Chick-fil-A’s popularity, the city doesn’t expect that to be the case here in Bend upon opening.

I don’t know if the wait for food will be “hours long,” but if the city doesn’t think it’s going to be extremely busy, then I’d try to avoid the Highway 97 and Robal Road area if you just need to pass through for a few weeks.