Item B: Update on the West Eugene Parkway and the 2008-2011 State Transportation Improvement Program

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Plan amendment, assessment of whether a local plan amendment would be required (e.g. WEWP or ? TransPlan) Design and phasing considerations to determine if there were significant design issues or ? complications to logical construction phasing The Re-Evaluation Report updated the project’s travel demand forecasting and traffic analyses to reflect the extended design year, required to comply with FHWA guidance that projects should generally use a 20-year design horizon. Land use (population and employment) projections were also adjusted to reflect the design year and factor in changes in development patterns (e.g. the purchase of previously assumed developable land for resource preservation or recreation use; changing densities on moderate slopes from ten units per acre to four). Further, traffic conditions and travel patterns for the base year were calibrated to known existing conditions based on recent intersection counts and vehicle speed surveys prepared by the study participants and in Traffic Impact Analyses and studies by others. The consultant team prepared a draft project design based upon the Re-Evaluation Report for closer examination of the potential impacts to property access resulting from the design and updated ODOT design standards. Meetings with potentially affected business and property owners were held in March 2005 to solicit comments on the design and impacts to their commercial or industrial sites. On May 26, 2005, ODOT was invited to the regular meeting of the Active Bethel Citizens (ABC) neighborhood organization to make a presentation on the project status and timeline. As a result of the input received at those meetings, the design team took a closer look at the proposed Hwy. 99/WEP interchange, seeking alternatives that may reduce the impacts to abutting properties in the vicinity of the planned interchange. Those efforts identified a longer term, at-grade solution that would allow the interchange to be “futured” beyond 2025. A closer evaluation was also conducted in the area of the proposed Beltline/WEP intersection and Terry Street connector and it was determined that the Terry Street connector could also be “futured” beyond the project horizon as long as the at-grade Roosevelt at Beltline intersection was retained. Project elements that are “futured” are those elements that are not necessary for a fully functional project during the project horizon of 2025. Construction of a folded diamond interchange on Beltline at the WEP as a part of completing the Phase 3 Beltline th improvements (widening from just south of Roosevelt to West 11) was determined to be the most cost- effective (minimizing throw-away improvements) means of phasing construction. In addition to the design, traffic, hydrologic and environmental updates being accomplished by the technical teams, ODOT has been meeting with Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers staff, coordinating the completion of activities so that the SFEIS can be utilized by FHWA for their Record of Decision (ROD) as well as RODs from the other federal cooperating agencies. Total project costs will also be updated as an element of the SFEIS and are expected to be below the Regional Transportation Plan estimated cost of $169 million, particularly given the deferral of costly interchange and structured connection costs as a part of the 2005 modified project. It is anticipated that the SFEIS will be published in mid-2006 and an FHWA ROD signed one to two months after the SFEIS is published. Construction of Unit 1A would likely start in 2007 and take two years to complete. Funding in the amount of $17,737,000 was first programmed for Unit 1A of the WEP in 1994. The funds continued to be programmed in the Final 2004-2007 STIP. Funding for future phases of the WEP would be included in future STIPs. L:\CMO\2005 Council Agendas\M051026\S051026B.doc