Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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been increased to $180 million. He added that at this point in time the whole program was in “negative reserve.” Mr. Dodson recognized the members of the Community Advisory Group who were present, noting that they had been participating in the design process for the bridge and had been very helpful. He reported that ODOT had met with the Laurel Hill Valley Neighborhood, City of Springfield, and the American Institute of Architects. He said they would meet with the County Commissioners later in the week and hoped to meet with the Fairmount Neighbors as well. Mr. Dodson related that impacts to the environment were of primary interest to the regulators. He stated that the project was in the environmental assessment phase. He explained that as the environmental analysis was conducted, a better idea of the number of piers and the bridge footprint would be known. He said they had identified which bridge types could be afforded by the current budget. He noted that ODOT was planning to procure a Construction Manager/General Contractor (CM/GC), adding that having construction experience interfacing with the design process would bring energy to the design team. He showed slides of the conceptual designs that had been formulated thus far and delineated the differences between them. In conclusion, Mr. Dodson stated that ODOT was willing to build any bridge but only had $70 million to allocate to it unless additional funds could be brought in. He noted that the $70 million was for the bridge structure alone. He said the project included funding for another $110 million in engineering and other costs, noting that it would cost several million dollars to demolish the existing bridge. Mayor Piercy commented that the designs responded to the City’s needs but not to its “wishes.” She said it had been hoped that the bridge would be a “signature bridge” and would serve as a gateway to the two communities. She asked what the timeline was for additional funds. Mr. Dodson replied that ODOT would need to know of any significant design changes within six months. Mayor Piercy asked if any particular comments had been made by members of the public about the design of the bridge. Mr. Dodson responded that some members of the public had voiced support for an arch kind of structure and some had suggested a cabled bridge. Mr. Henry added that the community response had been mixed with regard to bridge types. He stated that the Community Advisory Group had expressed a preference for reducing the environmental impact over esthetics. Mr. Poling thanked Mr. Dodson and Mr. Krug for the presentation. He said though the Harlow Neighbor- hood Association was not going to be tremendously impacted, it would still appreciate being updated on the project. Mr. Poling asked if there were plans to expand Franklin Boulevard to seven lanes. Mr. Dodson replied that ODOT had picked a conservative cross-section in order to provide a hole big enough under the bridge to expand the road to the “worst case.” Mr. Henry stressed that neither jurisdiction was advocating for expansion of the road to seven lanes. He said the future scenario for Franklin Boulevard included two lanes in each direction, two EmX lanes, and some additional width. Mr. Pryor averred that it was worthwhile to balance the transportation needs, environmental needs, and esthetics. He was conscious of the costs and preferred a single span over the river. He expressed a preference for the haunched bridge design. Ms. Bettman expressed surprise that the collateral projects were more expensive than the bridge itself. She wondered what was included. Mr. Henry responded that the elevation of the roadway to the bridge had to be MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 11, 2007 Page 7 Work Session