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option. However, he agreed with the Mayor it was wise to narrow the options, and there appeared to be a good <br />rationale for removing the options mentioned by Mr. Schwetz. <br /> <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka said his experience with the current Eugene route indicated that bus rapid transit seemed to work <br />th <br />better with a dedicated lane. He asked how much of the West 11 Avenue corridor route would consist of <br />dedicated lanes. Mr. Schwetz said that LTD proposed to add a lane in each direction. The lane would not <br />impede egress, would allow turning movements, and would improve the flow of traffic. It lacked a hard curb so <br />that motorists could cross it. It moved the buses out of the through-travel lanes, and pulled right-turn traffic out <br />th <br />of the flow of traffic. He did not expect that LTD would make traffic conditions on West 11 Avenue, worse <br />than they currently were. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka believed that the Eugene-Springfield EmX route had been “a spectacular success.” He rode the <br />route often and found EmX to be a good system. He speculated that as the community grew more dense, such a <br />system would be even more valuable in getting people out of their cars and into transit. The next corridor would <br />be even more important and he thought the option created a “significant alternative.” He did not want to see the <br />recommendation option end up being the “no-build” alternative. <br /> <br />Mr. Schwetz agreed with Mr. Zelenka that exclusive rights-of-way were useful but pointed out that several <br />segments of the first two routes ran in mixed traffic. He said that eventually, LTD might be able to establish <br />exclusive lanes on those routes, but he believed the beauty of the system was its flexibility, and that it could be <br />made to work with the state of the community as it was today as well as tomorrow. <br /> <br />th <br />Mr. Zelenka agreed with Mr. Clark that there were places on West 11 Avenue, where the construction of <br />buildings up the street had created a problem. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka was willing to look at all of the options but emphasized the importance of dedicated lanes. <br /> <br />th <br />As a member of the West Eugene Collaborative, Mr. Pryor agreed that currently, West 7 Place was not viable, <br />due to a lack of ridership. However, he agreed with Mayor Piercy and Mr. Clark that the option should be <br />retained to see if it could be made to work. <br /> <br />Mr. Pryor acknowledged that LTD was being responsive to the community in the number of options that it <br />considered, but he was pleased to see the options narrowed and particularly commended the elimination of the <br />Amazon Creek option. <br /> <br />Mr. Pryor said he kept hearing the question of whether EmX was needed in the first place. He believed that <br />public transit was desirable, but that local corridor service was getting more expensive to offer, and EmX was an <br />affordable option to that existing service that still got people to their destinations quickly and efficiently. He <br />perceived EmX as a replacement for corridor service, rather than an add-on to corridor service. <br /> <br />Mr. Pryor thought that LTD needed to put the routes where people lived and worked now and where they would <br />live and work in the future in a way that did not disrupt what was in place now. Mr. Pryor did not want to see <br />LTD implement EmX in a way that required the condemnation of property, the construction of infrastructure, or <br />street widening. <br /> <br />Mr. Brown was not convinced that the no-build alternative was not the best option. He noted the cost involved in <br />acquiring property to facilitate the route, which would be between $105 and $113 million in today’s dollars. He <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—City Council April 14, 2010 Page 3 <br />