Following a recent jurisdictional transfer from the Oregon Department of Transportation to the City of Eugene, the City has launched a project to redesign Franklin Boulevard between Alder St and I-5. Currently in its planning and designing phase, City staff will be working with people throughout the community to transform the busy road into a multi-modal urban street that makes it easier to safely walk, bike, ride the bus and drive through the corridor. Planning is anticipated to conclude in late 2019.
Analyzing Central Eugene's transportation opportunities.
Moving people and goods into and through Central Eugene, including Downtown Eugene, has been an ongoing exercise in adaptation and change. As Eugene grows, the transportation options available to an increasingly diverse population needs to adapt to new personal preferences and transportation technologies. The Central Eugene in Motion study will look at the impacts of making traffic changes and explore the array of transportation options available to serve multimodal trips.
Following a year-long pilot study, staff shared the study’s success with the Eugene City Council on February 26, 2018 and informed them that the bike lanes and a three-lane street will be made permanent with a pavement preservation project in 2019. The project will replace sidewalks, driveways, and access ramps; and add pedestrian-scale street lighting and rain gardens on side streets to treat stormwater. Community engagement is planned to review the design as it progresses this year.
The proposed 13th Avenue Bikeway will feature a two-way protected bike lane on 13th Avenue from campus to downtown Eugene.
Protected bike lanes provide physical separation between the bikeway and travel lanes. To facilitate two-way traffic, signalized intersections will have bike-only signal phases to prevent turning conflicts between street users and people riding bicycles.
The Amazon Active Transportation Corridor project has been in development since 2012. It seeks to implement the "Ridgeline to River" path concept envisioned by city leaders since the development of the Amazon Path. In summary, the "Ridgeline to River" corridor would connect the Ridgeline Trail and Spencer's Butte in south Eugene to the Ruth Bascom Riverbank Path and Willamette River on the north. A portion of this corridor is already constructed - the Amazon Path is a 12' concrete path from 34th Avenue to 19th Avenue. The Amazon Active Transportation Corridor project builds the southern end of the "Ridgeline to River" pathway. (A future projects is planned for 2019-20 to extend the bikeway north on High Street from 19th Avenue to 6th Avenue.)
Alder Street will be repaved in 2019 from 24th Avenue to 27th Avenue. The pavement replacement project includes rehabilitating the existing pavement by resurfacing the existing pavement, replacing striping, and updating sidewalk access ramps for universal access. Funding for the project comes from the voter-approved 2017 Pavement Bond Measure.
The City of Eugene Transportation System Plan 2035 (TSP) identifies Alder Street as a Neighborhood Greenway from 24th Avenue to 35th Avenue. The repaving of streets provides an opportunity to implement projects from the TSP. In this case, neighborhood greenway elements could be added to the project.
Speeding is a problem in several school zones and Eugene Police Department can't provide daily enforcement at all locations where the problem occurs. For children walking and bicycling to school, changes are needed to make street crossings safer.
The City of Eugene's projects include dispersed school speed zone flashers, speed readers, and enhanced pedestrian crossings featuring pedestrian islands, curb extensions, and RRFBs.
City of Eugene has received funding from the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) to implement several neighborhood greenways identified in the Transportation Systems Plan. These projects would improve local transportation connections for walking and bicycling. The project area includes three neighborhoods in northeast Eugene (Cal Young Neighborhood Association, Harlow Neighbors, and Northeast Neighbors.)
The City of Eugene is working with regional partners and the community to add new features to some of our most important streets. This project is called MovingAhead. The project is focused on better connecting people to jobs, schools, shopping, recreation, and other activities by considering a range of transportation investments along key corridors to improve safety and livability for everyone.
