Ordinance No. 20258 - Laserfiche WebLink

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~ST EUO~NE PARKWAY ~F~ED PROJECT--CONS~STE~ WiTH THE STATEWIDE PLANNING GOALS AND TRANS~AT~t~ PLANNING RULE area. To reasonably accomm~ate statewide and regional transportation needs, consideration was given to whether West 1 lth Avenue from Ga~eld Street to the Oak Hill area outside the UGB reasonably coutd be converted from a local road to a limited access facility meeting Statewide Highway standards to serve intra- and inter-regional travel needs. Through study, many factors were found to impede this action; including the numerous signals and intersections that are part of the existing local road network, over 100 existing c4>mmemial enterprises with dkect access to West 1 Ith Avenue, and an inefficient connection between West t Ith Avenue and the 6th and 7th Avenue couplet by way of Garfield Street, including two signals and two 90- degree turns. To rectify these conditions would require (1) elimination of most direct accesses to West 1 lth Avenue through the construction of frontage roads or rearrangement of acmess to other roadways; (2) construction of interchanges at strategic locations serving regional and/or local travel; and (3)construction ora complicated, if not impossible, connection between West 11 th Avenue and Highway 99 in the Garfield Street area. Accomplishing these modifications is not reasonable because the adverse impacts are too severe. The required modifications would cause the displacement or extensive access changes to over commercial md light industrial businesses immediately adjacent to West 1 lth Avenue, Garfield Street, and 6th and 7ff~ Avenues. The changes would require extensive alteration of the land use pattern established over the last 25 to 30 years. These actions would severely impact the commercial land base of the city and substantially impact local emplo3~nent, business income and m base. Prope~ ownem would need to be compensated for taken property. Resulting loss of parking spaces and landscaping ~s~iated with businesses could result in inadequate numbers of spaces or inadequate landscaping measured against City of Eugene standards. Internal circulation and truck movement patterns would be adversely impacted. Providing alternate accesses to all affected properties would aIso be very disruptive and expensive. Also, a major objective identified for the West Eugene Parkway is to relieve traffic along West 1 Avenue so that it can operate as a local road serving local residents and businesses. Converting West 1 lth Avenue into a limited access highway contradicts this objective and violates formalized project goals underlying this project aimed at avoiding impacts to existing commercial and industrial development. For all of these reasons, improvements to West 1 lth Avenue cannot reasonably accommodate the idemified need. West Eugene needs both West 1 lth Avenue, operating as a local road serving area ms[denl:s and businesses, and a facility serving statewide and regional transportation needs. The displacement, cost, and environmental impacts that would result from the improvements needed to improve West 1 lth Avenue, together wkh the associated social costs resulting from disruption of the existing land use pattern of the area, are simply too great when considered together. Other existing arterials se~ing the West Eugene area include Royal Avenue, Beltline Highway and West ISth Avenue. See Figure 1. Each of these facilities is important to the overall regional and local transportation network. However, these facilk~es do not represent connections that can provide adequate relief for the east-west traffic flow such as to el~inate the need for the WEP. Moreover~ individually and cumulatively, the3, would significantly increase VMT per capita. Royal Avenue, a minor axtefial, is located approximately 1.4 miles north of West 1 lth Avenue. The roadway p~ses through and serves primarily residential properties and is adjacent to a park and elementary school. From west of the UGB to Terry Street, Royal Avenue is a two-lane facility with a painted fog l~ne and a posted speed of 45 miles per hour. From Terry Street to Bertelsen Road, the roadway [sa three-lane section with bike lanes, no parking, and a posted speed of 35 miles per hour. East of Bertelsen Road m Highway 99, Royal Avenue narrows to two lanes with bike lanes and no parking. Accesses are typical of residential streets (i.e., numerous curbcuts). EXHiBiT 04 - FINDINGS 32