CC Minutes - 09/25/06 Work Session

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priority because of the level of congestion and related safety issues. He said the project was also one for which ODOT was committed to initiating transportation system planning this year and there was funding in both the adopted and draft STIP. He said the project had been established as a priority in the region and that was the basis for the funding it had received to date. th Ms. Taylor observed that Beltline was now more important than West 11 Avenue, which everyone said was a priority. Mr. Schoening pointed out that both the Beltline project and the WEP were in the STIP and the Beltline project remained. City Manager Taylor added that Beltline was a more strategic project as it offered the opportunity to move forward and obtain funding because it was already in the plan and funded. Ms. Taylor asked if the Beltline project was related to the plan for a hospital. Mr. Schoening replied the project was included in the FY06-09 STIP far before there was any consideration of a hospital in that area. th Mr. Pryor was pleased to see the West 11 Avenue project on the priorities list. He recognized that although there was an urgent need for improvements, it was important to complete the necessary planning and financing steps first. He asked how quickly the public might see some of the improvements on the ground. Mr. Schoening responded that it could conceivably be eight to ten years before construction began. Mr. Pryor hoped that measures could be taken on an interim basis to relieve the existing problems as the City worked towards a permanent solution. th Ms. Bettman asked if the portion of Beltline north of West 11 Avenue, while a lower priority, was still on the project list. Mr. Schoening replied that the project was still on the list of projects expected to be built within the next 20 years. Ms. Bettman expressed concern that the improvements around Delta might siphon off the opportunities and funding for west Eugene. She asked if funding other than STP-U was available for planning. Mr. Schoening said that staff was also exploring working with the University to access funding through federal dollars available to the university system. He said that program was authorized under the recent federal transportation legislation and procedures were still being developed. He said that funding would also require a 50 percent match. Ms. Bettman was pleased to see the City move forward with an access management program. She said that th some of the strategies that she favored for West 11 Avenue, such as a boulevard treatment, did not seem to be compatible with an EmX corridor. She said that demographics when the council identified Coburg Road as the next EmX corridor really supported west and north Eugene. She said that there was significant low- income affordable housing along Highway 99 and many families that could benefit from being able to utilize th transit to connect to employment. She did not support narrowing the choice to West 11 Avenue without comparing the two corridors and determining which would work best. Mr. Schoening said the plan called for both corridors to eventually have EmX service and in conversations with knowledgeable proponents of boulevard treatments it was clear that EmX should be part of an integrated study and not a separate consideration. th Ms. Bettman felt that language in the proposed motion was definitive about identifying West 11 Avenue as the priority for the next EmX corridor. MINUTES—City Council September 25, 2006 Page 8 Work Session