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was not designed to make West 11th Avenue a residential street. The street now is so congested <br />it is unsafe and commercial access to properties along the street is difficult. Ms. Nathanson said <br />that the parkway's alignment was changed to reduce environmental impacts. She said that now, <br />rather than bifurcating the area, the alignment was moved over to the railroad tracks, which <br />already created a barrier across the natural area. <br /> <br />Ms. Nathanson said that it would have been nice if the SEIS had proceeded more quickly. She <br />said that the project seemed to only intermittently make progress, and it was as though someone <br />had locked it in a desk for six months at a time. She said that ODOT's progress on the project <br />had been incredibly slow, and her inquiries were stonewalled. She questioned whether FHWA <br />made the request to include the project in TransPlan, or if ODOT asked that it do so. Ms. <br />Nathanson said that she was suspicious of the process, and did not think that its failure would be <br />because Eugene did not try to do a good job. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly said it was almost not worth talking about putting the entire project into the 20-year <br />constrained TransPlan project list because so many other projects would be displaced. He <br />pointed out that the joint adopting officials had moved an additional $38 million dollars of State <br />projects into the plan, and he did not know how that was to be managed. Until there was clarity <br />about the FHWA requirement, Mr. Kelly did not want to spend more money and staff time <br />initiating plan amendments. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly reminded the council that the modeling referred to indicated that the first phase resulted <br />in an eight percent reduction in peak period congestion on West 11th Avenue in 2015. He did not <br />think that would make much of an impression on the community. He was interested in knowing <br />what the modeling indicated about the impact of the first phase of the parkway on West 18th <br />Avenue. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly agreed that the railroad tracks provided some separation now but said he would like <br />feedback from the wetlands staff about the differing nature of the impacts from the proposed <br />highway and the railroad tracks. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey said he hoped the council did not find reasons not to proceed with the <br />amendments. He did not think the council should ignore the 1986 vote given the high percentage <br />of voters favoring the parkway proposal and the fact many residents on the west side were <br />concerned about traffic in that area. He further noted the impact of proposed Bus Rapid Transit <br />on West 11th Avenue, and questioned how that impact could be handled in the absence of the <br />parkway. <br /> <br />Responding to a question from Mayor Torrey, Mr. Pirrie confirmed that almost all the right-of-way <br />had been purchased for Phase 1. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey pointed out a new Home Depot and Walmart were proposed for construction on <br />West 11th Avenue, and suggested the council keep that in mind. He said that the plan for the <br />parkway had been in place for a long time and if the council did not move the amendments <br />forward the funding would be lost. He thought that would affect the council's ability to get <br />community support for other traffic projects. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey asked Mr. Pirrie about the City's ability to negotiate with the FHWA regarding the <br />inclusion of the parkway in TransPlan. Mr. Thompson reported on discussions between LCOG <br />and FHWA staff about using an approach that FHWA had used in Medford. FHWA staff did not <br /> <br />MINUTES--Eugene City Council December 11, 2000 Page 9 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br /> <br />