Item B: Prog.Corridor Enhancemt - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mayor Piercy and Eugene City Councilors June 27, 2005 Page 3 PCE is not intended to replace EmX system development. The LTD Board remains committed to working toward a complete EmX system as described in the Regional Transportation Plan. We firmly believe that the establishment of EmX, with all its features, is critical to the long-term success of transit in our community. Specifically, the exclusive transit lanes, which are the key feature of EmX, are necessary to make transit competitive with the automobile and control transit operating expenditures. While POE does not replace EmX, it is a valuable tool for improving transit service. POE will reduce transit travel time, improve service frequencies, and make the service simpler to understand. In addition, due to the Iow capital investment, corridors can be improved to a Level Two PCE within a relatively short period of time. POE will provide benefits to transit users on several corridors that would otherwise not see EmX improvements for many years. LTD has requested funding as part of the reauthorization of the federal transportation bill for the implementation of three corridors to a Level Two POE standard. If approved, three cross-town corridors would be implemented by 2009. First PCE Corridor On Wednesday, June 15, 2005, the LTD Board agreed with the recommendation of the BRT Steering Committee and selected the LCC/River Road corridor as the first PCE Level Two corridor. Improvements to this corridor will include transit signal priority, improved stops, some wider stop spacing, and queue-jumpers at selected intersections. Service from LCC to River Road will be provided every 15 minutes during weekday daytimes. The implementation date for these corridor improvements is Fall 2006. The LCC to River Road corridor was selected as the first Level Two PCE project because of high ridership, service compatibility of the two ends of the corridor, logical cross-town service connections, and the relative ease of implementing the Level Two improvements. Partnership with City LTD staff will work closely with partner agency staff and the public on the implementation of PCE corridors. City staff were involved in the corridor selection and have met with LTD staff to begin to coordinate planning and design efforts of the LCC/River Road corridor. LTD is, as always, interested in comments and suggestions from the Eugene City Council on transit projects. It should be noted that LTD sees a clear distinction between City Council involvement in this PCE Level Two project and an EmX project. The LCC/River Road PCE project is similar to many other transit improvements that LTD has made over the years. A full EmX corridor, on the other hand, is a significantly more complex and costly project that requires a great deal more interagency coordination and support. For that reason, LTD has agreed that selection of EmX corridors be done in