[WEC] Articles on two main streets: West 11th in Eugene, Main Street in Springfield

[Rob Zako]

Dear WEC friends,

In case you missed it last week, the RG published two stories, one on West 11th in Eugene and the other on Main Street in Springfield.

In other news, this Thursday several us us will be participating in an all-day Envision Eugene discussion.

Rob Z



Study suggests strategies for West 11th
The City Council will consider measures to ease traffic on the congested street with or without EmX
BY ED RUSSO
The Register-Guard
Appeared in print: Tuesday, Jul 13, 2010

With or without bus rapid transit on Eugene’s West 11th Avenue, the City Council on Monday indicated that steps will be taken to ease traffic congestion and enhance safety on the busy street.

Councilors reacted to a city-commissioned study that recommends adjusting the timing of West 11th traffic signals west of Chambers Street, building turn lanes at the most congested and dangerous intersections, and closing some driveways.

City transportation planning engineer Chris Henry told councilors the changes could take place with the construction of Lane Transit District’s West Eugene EmX bus line.

Officials are considering whether to expand the EmX into west Eugene, including on parts of West 11th Avenue, but LTD won’t decide on a preferred route until later this year.

Councilors did not take a vote on the topic but said they like the ideas, though some said the city should not hurt businesses by closing driveways.

“I would want businesses to be involved in any decision that we would make,” said Councilor Andrea Ortiz. “I think it would be hard for us to decide who gets to keep their driveway.”

And some councilors said there is a chance that LTD, which needs council agreement to proceed with EmX, may end up not building the route, which is opposed by some West 11th merchants.

Between 22,000 and 28,000 vehicles use the 41/2-mile long corridor daily between Chambers Street and Green Hill Road.

West 11th at Bailey Hill Road is one of the most crash-prone intersections in the city, Henry said, and congestion will just get worse as the city grows. That means the changes should be done, regardless of the EmX decision, he said.

“If we choose not to do EmX, we will develop a Plan B,” Henry said.

But motorists shouldn’t expect the changes to make it dramatically easier to get through the area, he said. Nor are they a long-term fix.

Adjusting the timing of traffic signals and installing new left-hand turn lights at some intersections, for example, would save motorists only about 15 seconds on their drive, Henry said.

However, the changes add up if all motorists are considered. For instance, those few seconds would lead motorists to burn considerably less gasoline each year, he said, saving a combined $50,000 and preventing the release of 150 tons of greenhouse gases.

“So, in a year, the community gains the benefit of a signal retiming,” Henry said.

The study, from DKS Associates of Oakland, Calif., with assistance from Eugene transportation planners, cost $100,000 in federal funds.

In another matter, the council unanimously approved the guidelines for Walnut Station, a planned transformation of the Franklin Boulevard area near the University of Oregon.

The guidelines are supposed to influence how the area redevelops. Under the rules, developers would replace the present low-density commercial area with larger buildings, where businesses apartments, shops and restaurants are located close together.

Also, councilors unanimously endorsed the Willamette River Open Space Vision and Action Plan.

The conceptual plan, developed with the help of metro-area governments and nature groups, is based on the cooperation of landowners and others to expand and enhance public space and natural habitat along the river.

“The vision relies on voluntary participation over the next 30 years,” said project manager Jeff Krueger of the Lane Council of Governments.



DEVELOPMENT

Main Street Vision
Springfield officials hope the travel corridor can be a destination
BY SUSAN PALMER
The Register-Guard
Appeared in print: Tuesday, Jul 13, 2010

SPRINGFIELD — The route to a revitalized downtown runs directly through the state Department of Transportation bureaucracy, according to an urban design plan presented to the City Council on Monday night.

“The best downtowns have great main streets, great retail and great public space,” Portland architect and consultant George Crandall said.

Right now, Springfield is 0-for-3, with a rumbling, truck-friendly thoroughfare, minimal retail, and the nearest great public space tucked away out of sight along the river.

The city’s one-way Main Street doubles as state Highway 126, and while it may be a great arterial for people going elsewhere, it will need to be altered to get people to see downtown as a destination, Crandall said.

He didn’t mince words: Plenty of urban improvement projects have failed. You can build it, but they — people and developers — won’t necessarily come.

Crandall walked city councilors and planning commission members through a vision of downtown that provides the potential ingredients for success.

Crafted under the guidance of a citizen advisory committee meeting for the past 13 months, the new downtown would have at its heart a paved plaza at the corner of Main and Mill streets. The plaza would be ringed by ground-floor retail, including plenty of restaurants that would lure people 18 hours a day.

The proposal would route through traffic to South A Street and convert Main Street to two-way traffic.

There would be protected bikeways, separating bicycles from auto traffic as a way to encourage more people to ride — and a bicycle bridge connecting North A Street to a proposed housing development across the Willamette River in Glenwood.

The plan foresees a retail “hot spot” surrounding the downtown plaza, providing easy access for pedestrians and bicyclists.

And it envisions Springfield — with its downtown Lane Transit District bus rapid transit station and park-and-ride lot near the railroad tracks — as a likely place for a high-speed rail stop.

Crandall told councilors his analysis concluded that the $5 million it would cost the city to acquire the land and build the plaza would result in $80 million in investment from commercial and retail developers, a 7-to-1 return on the city’s investment.

Dan Egan, executive director of the Springfield Chamber of Commerce and a member of the committee working with the consultants to craft the proposal, said that altering Main Street’s traffic pattern would be a key ingredient to the plan’s success.

“We cannot expect significant improvements without that change. ... It’s a very busy street with lots of trucks, hundreds a day. It creates a nonwalking downtown,” he said.

To make the vision come true will require both public and private investment, Egan said.

“There’s some things that the government sector must do to engender the rebirth of downtown. They’ve got to remove some barriers to make it conducive for the private sector to thrive,” he said.

The proposal lists a time frame for getting the work done. Tasks such as the council adopting the plan, and the city beginning a transportation study for a two-way Main Street should be accomplished in the next four months, while purchase of the properties for the plaza site should be done in the next six months.

A finished plaza is viewed as two to three years out, while changing Main Street could take from three to seven years.

Crandall also recommended that rather than disband, the Citizen Advisory Committee be retained to make sure the plan doesn’t wind up gathering dust on a shelf somewhere.

“Momentum is the key,” Crandall told the council.

Karen Hageman, a committee member who recently opened the Washburne Cafe on Main Street, said she would be happy to stay involved in the effort.

“If we don’t keep it going there’s so many other issues that come up” and distract the council, she said. “It was an exciting committee to work on. I will stay.”

While there was some groaning among councilors and from Mayor Sid Leiken about the challenge of working with ODOT to change Main Street traffic patterns, the plan got plenty of praise.

“I think the work is outstanding,” Leiken said.

The city’s downtown urban renewal district, which dedicates some tax money for downtown improvements, paid for the plan under consideration by the city, and will be a source of some of the development funds if the council adopts the proposal, most likely sometime in September.

DOWNTOWN VISION

Depends on a few essential items

Mill Plaza: City’s “living room” would host day-to-day gatherings

Retail hot spots: Oriented around and near the plaza, a variety of local shops and anchor national tenants

Two-way Main Street: Pedestrian-friendly with direct access to downtown retail and visibility for businesses

Transit: High-speed rail would provide access between Springfield, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, B.C.

Glenwood: Riverfront housing district would include 2,000 new residences surrounded by parks and oriented to the riverfront, a short bike ride from downtown


KEVIN CLARK/THE REGISTER-GUARD
Springfield is considering ways to turn Main Street, seen from on top of the Royal Building at Fifth and Main streets, from a thoroughfare to the center of a vibrant downtown. A Portland consultant has recommended more retail outlets and public spaces.


KEVIN CLARK/THE REGISTER-GUARD
Artist’s rendering of proposed Mill Plaza site in Springfield.


KEVIN CLARK/THE REGISTER-GUARD
Springfield is considering two-way traffic on Main Street and the addition of a large plaza between Mill Street and Pioneer Parkway. This is Main Street looking west from Pioneer Parkway toward Mill Street.

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