CCMinutes - 11/17/04 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

that area. Staff had the same questions as Ms. Bettman, and would be asking ODOT for responses to those questions before forwarding a recommendation to the elected officials. Ms. Russo agreed that the designation would have an impact on access management, although she could not say precisely what that impact would be. Speaking to the issue of funding, Ms. Russo said that State law required that ODOT give priority to projects that assist with freight mobility. She said funding was limited and doubted there would be enough funding to give priority to all routes designated for freight. Mr. Washburn said that the designation could add points to a project when competing for funds. Mr. Pap6 asked if the State ever removed the designation from a highway. Ms. Russo said that the designation was only recently created and the State was revisiting it for the first time. She anticipated that the designation could be removed if a highway did not continue to meet the criteria. Responding to a question from Mr. Pap6 about the nature of the council's comments, Ms. Russo suggested that the council could comment as a body and as individuals. Ms. Nathanson observed that one way to increase mobility was to limit access, such as through limiting driveways. She said that in other cities and in other states she had noticed a great deal more use of internal circulation systems, such as frontage roads. She asked what the State was doing to encourage cities to figure out better internal circulation systems, which would help with the State's mobility concerns. She acknowledged the amount of right-of-way needed for such systems, which could be a problem. Ms. Nathanson said many people living in cities used State and federal highways to commute to work and to carry out errands. She asked if that was likely to change over time or if it would continue to be a problem because of a lack of funding. City Manager Taylor arrived. Ms. Nathanson expressed concern that a more rigorous review of land use applications would require the City to say "no" to everything because of opposition from both residents and ODOT. Mr. Meisner shared Ms. Nathanson's concern about the connection between land use and the freight route designation. He expressed interest in what had not been proposed for designation, noting that there had been considerable discussion over the years regarding the need to improve West 11th Avenue west of Beltline and Beltline as a means of connecting western Lane County to Interstate 5. He acknowledged the bottlenecks that existed on those routes now. Mr. Meisner asked whether funding for other projects in that area of the city would be affected if West 11th Avenue to Beltline was designated as a freight route. Ms. Russo did not know. She said that freight was one consideration in prioritization, but she did not know what other projects would be competing for funds. Mr. Meisner asked if it was likely that, once routes were redesignated, ODOT would become more stringent about designating truck routes. He asked if, for example, once routes were redesignated as freight routes, it would be possible to also make them truck routes and remove the truck route designation from West 11th Avenue east of Beltline or 6th and 7th avenues running through downtown. Ms. Russo thought that approach could be explored. Mr. Washburn noted that a recent court decision allowed municipalities to designate truck routes and remove trucks from their main streets. ODOT would be examining that issue soon, and he anticipated that a procedure would be established to ensure such changes were done safely. Ms. Russo clarified that the court decision allowed the State the ability to grant such authority to a city. She antici- MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 17, 2004 Page 3 Work Session