CC Minutes - 02/25/02 Work Session

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Station. Mr. Rayor said that the Highway 99 route appeared to better balance the first phases of the BRT system and in addition took on the hardest route first. He thought LTD needed to test the BRT concepts with ODOT given the agency's unfamiliarity with the concepts outside the Portland metro area. Ms. Taylor also supported the Highway 99 route and concurred with the remarks of Mr. Kelly and Ms. Bettman, particularly Ms. Bettman's remarks about serving the Iow-income residents living near the route. Ms. Nathanson supported the Planning Commission's recommendation because she believed it would better serve more intense development and demonstrate the greatest near-term success. She emphasized the importance of the project having early success to enhance its public and later, federal support. In addition, the growth projections for employment and linked trips convinced her the route was the better choice. Ms. Nathanson asked LTD for examples of other successful two-way loop service. Mr. Farr agreed with Ms. Nathanson regarding the need for near-term success. He supported the Planning Commission's recommendation because of the City's jurisdiction over the street, which would give LTD and the City the opportunity to work out some of the issues related to the use of the street before approaching ODOT for use of 6th and 7th avenues. He concurred with Mr. Meisner about the importance of the connection to the Springfield route. Mr. Farr believed the route would help alleviate conditions in the heavily congested Ferry Street Bridge corridor, Chad- Crescent area, and Gateway area. Mr. Farr endorsed the Planning Commission's recommendation to increase neighborhood routes and frequencies in northwest Eugene. Mr. Pap8 concurred with the remarks of Mr. Meisner, Ms. Nathanson, and Mr. Farr. He agreed as to the importance of the link with Springfield. He said that the Coburg route was also important because the City needed to begin to deal with its lack of bridges and the fact the few that existed were becoming a bottleneck. The traffic conditions on those bridges needed to be alleviated. He said that would demonstrate the near-term success mentioned by Ms. Nathanson. Mr. Pap8 acknowledged the growth that had occurred in west Eugene, but pointed that there had also been considerable growth in north Eugene. Mayor Torrey indicated support for the Coburg route because of the substantial increase in University of Oregon students living off Crescent, the many Iow-income housing developments adjacent to Coburg Road, the high percentage of senior citizens living in the area, and the anticipated development and redevelopment projected to occur along the corridor. Ms. Hocken responded to comments and questions. She endorsed Mr. Meisner's recommendation that the word "possible" be struck from the motion. She said that LTD had many th th discussions about the use of 6 and 7 avenues with ODOT, and the agency was not willing to commit a lane of traffic for the use of BRT. She hoped that the ridership on the Coburg route could help demonstrate to ODOT that the system could be an asset rather than a problem. Regarding service in the northwest, Ms. Hocken said that the board had heard testimony the previous week about that issue, and she anticipated a larger discussion of service to the area, involving area residents, about that topic. MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 25, 2002 Page 10 Work Session