CC Minutes - 03/05/01 Work Session

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said he did not anticipate an impact of the traffic calming on the customers of the golf course; the concerns expressed by the owner was more focused in general on safety because of an accident on Barger Drive involving a median. He confirmed, in response to a follow-up question from Ms. Nathanson, that there was no evidence the medians were unsafe, or that the benefits of medians did not outweigh potential problems. He added the City kept up with the evolution of median design standards. Ms. Nathanson asked why staff previously characterized the situation as unique; was it due to the mixing of industrial and residential traffic? Mr. Lyle said that was true to some degree. He said that the most unique characteristic of the project was that the urban growth boundary was on the west side of the right-of-way. Ms. Nathanson asked how a large City fire truck using the road compared to the typical truck traffic using the roads. Mr. Lyle believed an average fire truck would be similar to a typical dump truck. However, dump trucks with "pup" trailers reached a length of 80 feet. He believed Lane Transit District buses were shorter than such trucks. He said Eugene Sand & Gravel used the longer trucks to carry materials from the excavation pits to the plant. Staff was designing the chicane for the 80-feet truck-pup. Ms. Nathanson determined from Mr. Lyle that the Lane Transit District should have no objections to the street design. Ms. Bettman determined from Mr. Lyle that the section of Ayres Road to Greenhilll Road was a major collector with a speed limit of 45. Ms. Bettman asked if staff considered using chicanes along that section of the road. Mr. Lyle said staff looked at the concept but it would require substantial alterations to the alignment and reductions in speed along the roadway that would be inconsistent with the posted speed. Reducing the speed would require an application to the State with justification of the lower speed. Ms. Bettman clarified she was not suggesting a lower speed; she thought the street configuration would encourage a higher speed limit. Ms. Bettman clarified that Mr. Lyle proposed the use of systems development charges to underwrite the project costs because the project would accommodate future growth. Mr. Lyle said yes. He agreed with a statement from Ms. Bettman that the existing demand was partially generated by the intensity of uses outside the urban growth boundary. Ms. Bettman said that there were other street projects competing for the systems development charge funds. While she appreciated that the project was somewhat of an anomaly, she thought it was necessitated by uses outside the boundary, and it appeared the City was going out of its way to accommodate those uses, and there was an inequity. Ms. Bettman said it should alert the council to the pitfalls of creating a situation where intense uses existed outside the boundary. Mr. Papd asked how difficult it was to change the speed on a State highway. Gary McNeel of the Public Works Department characterized it as a complex process, requiring application to a State board and a speed study. He said it was possible a speed change could be secured. Mr. Lyle did not think Eugene Sand & Gravel objected to a speed limit of 35 miles per hour. He said staff was proposing to install advisory speed limits along either side of the Ayres Road intersection, acknowledging they were not enforceable if exceeded. The posted speed limit will still be 45 miles per hour. Mr. Papd raised the issue of bicycle safety on the west side of Ayres Road near the chicane, and asked if it was possible to move the bicycle path over several yards to avoid conflicts between bicyclists and truck-trailers. Mr. Lyle said staff could explore the idea. It would likely require the purchase of additional right-of-way. He said staff had not explored that acquisition at this point. MINUTES--Eugene City Council March 5, 2001 Page 4 Work Session