[WEC-All] Death on W 11th

[Mark Robinowitz]

I'm not part of the so-called Collaboration, and definitely do NOT  
speak for them.   I was not invited to be part of their effort, but I  
was involved in the effort to stop the unnecessary, overpriced,  
ineffective West Eugene Porkway (probably the reason I'm not welcome  
there).  But they've added me to their mailing list, and I read your  
letter ...


you wrote:

My husband and I do all that we can to 'live green', recycle, etc. We  
do our part to preserve the planet, however, we are becoming very  
frustrated and feel that the 'environmental' pendulum has swung too  
far and has become far too radical.  SAVE THE MUD TURTLES AND TO HECK  
WITH PEOPLE!  The time has come to find a compromise in the middle.


reply:

In reality, the environmental movement has largely failed to stop  
pollution.  The oceans are choked with plastic pollution that is  
killing sea birds, marine mammals and fish.  The atmospheric  
chemistry is changing, with the climate starting to shift as a  
result.  Most of the original forest of the Northwest is gone, and  
won't return in our great grandchildren's lifetimes (tree farms are  
not really forests).  Oil supplies are now peaking, and will never be  
as abundant (on an annual basis) again -- this depletion will have  
massive impacts on transportation, economics, food distribution and  
every other activity dependent on internal combustion engines.   As  
the oil era winds down, traffic levels will also peak and decline.    
Alternatives to petroleum generally have much less energy density and  
are not going to replace current consumption of oil -- we will all  
have to learn to live very differently (more local).



you wrote:

It is my understanding that there have been several 'surveys' done  
with regard to expanding W. 11th - beginning as far back as 1985.  We  
have, personally, been contacted by 'statistic gatherers'.  What an  
enormous waste of my tax dollars.  The money that has been wasted on  
'studies' could have built a 4 lane highway practically to Florence  
by now.



reply:

While there have been lots of pointless studies - and the  
Collaboration is probably another distraction - the money spent on  
studies in recent years is around four million dollars (according to  
what I've read).  This would have been enough to fix West 11th  
intersections from Beltline to Chambers, although a four lane highway  
from Eugene to Florence would be extremely expensive (my crude guess  
is over $100 million, probably much more) since it would be about 50  
miles of road widening through mostly mountainous terrain.  A four  
lane Coast Range highway to Florence is unlikely to happen during the  
rest of the petroleum era, especially since there still billions of  
dollars of bridges on I-5, I-84 and other key highways that need  
replacement due to their age and excessively heavy trucks pounding  
them until they have cracked.

On June 19, 2001, the Oregon Dept. of Transportation, Federal Highway  
Administration, Bureau of Land Management, City of Eugene and Lane  
County informally agreed to select "No Build" for the WEP.  If that  
decision had been implemented, the safety and transportation fixes to  
West 11th in the City could have been implemented by now, along with  
flow improvements for Beltline / 11, Beltline / Roosevelt and  
Roosevelt / 99.  There also could have been safety fixes (a turn  
lane?) for West 11th between the railroad bridge and Fisher Road  
(which would be relatively cheap), but those fixes got delayed  
because Porkway supporters (Jim Torrey, Randy and Gary Pape, etc)  
changed their mind on supporting the No Build consensus.   see http:// 
www.permatopia.com/wetlands/nobuild.html for some of the details.

These sorts of major projects are largely Federal decisions, since  
Federal money is used and therefore the Federal Highway  
Administration is ultimately responsible.   However, small projects  
(such as adding turn lanes) can usually be implemented without  
expensive studies since they are generally exempted from the  
Environmental Impact Statement process if their impacts are minimal.

As we pass the point of "Peak Oil," highway projects will have to  
shift to maintaining what we have instead of expanding.  Safety fixes  
such as a turn lane on West 11th to reduce the risk of deadly  
accidents are much cheaper than highway capacity expansion, but the  
safety fixes don't subsidize speculative development, which was the  
real purpose for the West Eugene Porkway.

One part of any safety solution would be to strengthen the  
requirements for driver license renewals -- I recently renewed mine  
and was very surprised that the State of Oregon now issues them for  
eight years without any vision test requirements (if you are under 50  
years old).  It would be nice to see the requirements change to  
mandate that all drivers remember basic driving laws, such as speed  
limits, passing requirements, rights of way (ie. when someone else  
has the right of way over you), bicycle and pedestrian rights, etc.   
Driving the speed limit often results in road rage from overstressed  
drivers who should not have the legal right to operate a motor  
vehicle due to their carelessness.   Many accidents result from  
impatient people not paying attention to the rights of others,  
whether motorist, bicyclist or pedestrian.  Unfortunately, few  
politicians or bureaucrats have the courage to state that drivers  
license requirements must include proof that one remembers basic  
rules of safe driving when renewing a license, with predicable and  
catastrophic results.


Mark Robinowitz
WETLANDS: West Eugene Transportation, Lane and Neighborhood Design  
Solutions
http://www.permatopia.com/wetlands.html




On Oct 7, 2007, at 9:53 AM Oct 7, Gayle Ware wrote:

> Dear Members of the West Eugene Collaborative,
>
> I have attached a letter which I am in hopes that you will take the  
> time to read.
>
> Thank you and I hope to have a response from you sometime in the  
> near future.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Gayle Ware<Bloody  
> Boulevard.rtf>_______________________________________________
> wec_all mailing list
> wec_all at westeugenecollaborative.org
> http://www.designcommunity.com/mailman/listinfo/wec_all

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