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ECC UGENE ITY OUNCIL AIS GENDA TEM UMMARY Work Session: West Eugene EmX Extension Meeting Date: September 26, 2012 Agenda Item Number: A Department: City Manager’s Office Staff Contact: Lisa Gardner www.eugene-or.gov Contact Telephone Number: 541-682-5245 ISSUE STATEMENT Over the last six years, Lane Transit District (LTD) has conducted in-depth planning, public involvement, and technical analysis for a proposed West Eugene Extension of the EmX system in the Eugene-Springfield metro area. LTD has completed all of the federal requirements for moving forward with the third leg of the EmX system, including the completion of an Environmental Assessment (EA). The EA is an element of the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) process to demonstrate and summarize the project’s compliance with federal requirements. On July 13, 2012, after more than a year of comprehensive review and refinement of the technical analysis and documentation, the FTA made the formal determination that the EA was a complete, objective, and technically sufficient analysis of the potential impacts on the human, economic, and social environment. The FTA’s formal acceptance and concurrence with a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) with the EA is the remaining step in the federal project approval process. In addition to getting concurrence on the FONSI from FTA, LTD must also receive approval from the Eugene City Council indicating local support for the project, as outlined in an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) between the City and LTD. The City Council has this opportunity to receive information summarizing the responses from the public comments received regarding the federal Environmental Assessment of the West Eugene EmX Extension project. The council may take action at this meeting. The motion included in this agenda item summary will meet the requirements of the IGA in indicating council support of the EmX project. BACKGROUND The community’s comprehensive transportation plan, TransPlan (2002), proposed significant increases in the amount and convenience of transit service, increases in the amount of bikeways and sidewalks, and an expansion of transportation demand management (TDM) to help reduce congestion by 48 percent over forecasted trends. One key strategy for transit improvement was development of a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) network. The first BRT corridor (locally branded as “EmX”) linking downtown Eugene, downtown Springfield, and the University of Oregon opened in 2007. The second corridor to Springfield’s Gateway/River Bend area opened in early 2011. S:\CMO\2012 Council Agendas\M120926\S120926A.doc