The South Willamette Street Improvement Plan is scheduled to begin construction July 13, 2020.
The goal of the South Willamette Street Improvement Plan is to elevate South Willamette Street into a vibrant urban corridor accessible by foot, bike, bus, and car. The original street design had narrow sidewalks filled with obstacles, no bike lanes, and no turn lanes, forcing people biking to use the sidewalks and people driving wanting to turn left to stop in the travel lane and block traffic.
While the 2016 Pilot Study updated the street to include a center turn lane and bike lanes, the permanent project will make it even more comfortable for our community to safely walk, bike, bus, and drive in the South Willamette shopping district between 24th and 32nd avenues. In addition to keeping the center turn lane and bike lanes striped in the Pilot Study, the project will include:
- Street repaving and restriping
- Reconstructed, accessible driveways and corner curb ramps
- Over 2,000 feet of widened sidewalks
- Pedestrian-scale lighting
- Pedestrian countdown timers at intersections throughout the corridor
- New traffic signal at 27th Avenue
- 47 trees planted throughout the corridor
- New raingardens to clean water runoff from city streets
- New conduit for communications (for future high-speed fiber) throughout the corridor
Construction will start the third week of July 2020, stop prior to the holiday shopping season, and resume in spring of 2021. A priority of the project is to keep the South Willamette Street corridor open and accessible for everyone throughout construction:
- South Willamette Street will be open for business access and north/south travel during the entire construction period
- There will be continued access to all businesses and area streets whether you’re driving, walking, biking, riding a bus, or using a mobility device
- Businesses will be accessible for the entirety of the project, including using second driveways or temporary ramps if necessary
- Business open signs will be placed at business access driveways with blue traffic cones to indicate the driveway opening
For weekly updates on Eugene transportation construction projects and travel impacts, please go to www.tripcheck.com or visit www.eugene-or.gov/roadwork.
