04-30-15 - City Council Newsletter

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Northeast Corridors (Coburg Road, MLK Jr. Boulevard/Centennial Boulevard, Valley River Center) Thursday, May 28, 5 - 7:30 p.m. Monroe Middle School, 2800 Bailey Lane Community members may learn more about the project and participate in the first phase online from May 11 – Jun. 5 at MovingAhead.org. For more information, contact Terri Harding at terri.l.harding@ci.eugene.or.us or 541-682-5635, or Chris Henry at chris.c.henry@ci.eugene.or.us or 541-682-8472. Northwest Women Writers Symposium at Eugene Public Library In May, the Eugene Public Library will host a number of free events as part of the fourth annual Northwest Women Writers Symposium sponsored by University of Oregon (UO) Center for the Study of Women in Society. This year's symposium theme is “Our Daily Bread: Women’s Stories of Food and Resilience." On Thursday, May 7, at 6 p.m., writer Diana Abu-Jaber will speak at the Downtown Library. Beloved by both readers and reviewers, and known by many Eugeneans from her time living here and teaching at the UO, she is also a sparkling speaker. Her first novel, "Arabian Jazz," was honored with an Oregon Book Award. "Crescent," her second novel, won the PEN Center Award for Literary Fiction and the American Book Award. She has also written a memoir-with-recipes, "The Language of Baklava," the novel "Origin," and the novel "Birds of Paradise." On Saturday, May 9, at 4 p.m., writer Novella Carpenter, the author of a bestselling memoir, "Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer," will give a talk at the Downtown Library. Widely published in magazines and online, her most recent book is "Gone Feral: Tracking My Dad through the Wild." The Library will also host a panel discussion on Saturday, May 9, at 9:30 a.m., and writing workshops starting at 1:30 p.m. (pre-registration required; details at http://bit.ly/1NroXPY). For more information, contact the Eugene Public Library at www.eugene-or.gov/library or 541-682-5450. South Willamette Street Improvement Plan: Pilot Project Construction Ahead A project is scheduled to begin in mid-summer to construct permanent components and test improvements to Willamette Street between 24 and 32 avenues. thnd Permanent components include construction of a traffic signal at the Woodfield Station driveway north of 29 Avenue, as well as widening th Willamette Street north of 24 Avenue to tie in to the existing bikeway th system and leave enough space for a left-turn lane for southbound traffic on Willamette at 24. th The project also includes the test restriping of Willamette Street in the study area. In the vicinity of 29 Avenue, the test restriping will include two th southbound travel lanes, a center turn-lane, one northbound travel lane, and bicycle lanes on both sides of the street. North of the 29 Avenue area, th the test restriping will include one travel lane in each direction, a center turn-lane, and bicycle lanes on both sides of the street. Several sidewalk access ramps in the project area will be brought into compliance with current federal ADA standards. Two business driveways on Willamette Street will be closed to allow the safe operation of the new traffic signal at Woodfield Station. The test restriping is scheduled to last a full calendar year following an adjustment period after construction. The restriping will provide an opportunity to test traffic modeling data and learn from actual experience before permanent changes are made to that section of Willamette Street. Lessons learned from the testing can also be applied to other transportation corridor projects. A report to the Eugene City Council detailing the test results from transportation, economic, and user experience perspectives is expected in early 2017. Following a final decision on the South Willamette Street configuration, a pavement preservation project is planned for construction in 2018 when the final street configuration decision will be implemented. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 2 April 30, 2015