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be a good rationale for removing the options mentioned by Mr. Schwetz. <br />Mr. Zelenka said his experience with the current Eugene route indicated that bus rapid transit seemed to <br />work better with a dedicated lane. He asked how much of the west I I Avenue corridor route would <br />consist of dedicated lanes. Mr. Schwetz said that LTD proposed to add a lane in each direction. The lane <br />would not impede egress, would allow turning movements, and would improve the flow of traffic. It <br />lacked a hard curb so that motorists could cross it. It moved the buses out of the through - travel lanes, and <br />pulled right -turn traffic out of the flow of traffic. He did not expect that LTD would make traffic <br />conditions on west I I th Avenue, worse than they currently were. <br />Mr. Zelenka believed that the Eugene - Springfield EmX route had been "a spectacular success." He rode <br />the route often and found EmX to be a good system. He speculated that as the community grew denser; <br />such a system would be even more valuable in getting people out of their cars and into transit. The next <br />corridor would be even more important and he thought the option created a "significant alternative." He <br />did not want to see the recommendation option end up being the "no- build" alternative. <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 <br />establish exclusive lanes on those routes, but he believed the beauty of the system was its flexibility, and <br />that it could be made to work with the state of the community as it was today as well as tomorrow. <br />Mr. Zelenka agreed with Mr. Clark that there were places on west I O'Avenue, where the construction of <br />buildings up the street had created a problem. <br />Mr. Zelenka was willing to look at all of the options but emphasized the importance of dedicated lanes. <br />As a member of the west Eugene Collaborative, Mr. Pryor agreed that currently, west 7 th Place was not <br />viable, due to a lack of ridership. However, he agreed with Mayor Piercy and Mr. Clark that the option <br />should be retained to see if it could be made to work. <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 <br />the Amazon Creek option. <br />Mr. Pryor said he kept hearing the question of whether EmX was needed in the first place. He believed <br />that public transit was desirable, but that local corridor service was getting more expensive to offer, and <br />EmX was an affordable option to that existing service that still got people to their destinations quickly and <br />efficiently. He perceived EmX as a replacement for corridor service, rather than an add -on to corridor <br />service. <br />Mr. Pryor thought that LTD needed to put the routes where people lived and worked now and where they <br />would live and work in the future in a way that did not disrupt what was in place now. Mr. Pryor did not <br />want to see LTD implement EmX in a way that required the - condemnation of property, the construction of <br />infrastructure, or street widening. <br />Mr. Brown was not convinced that the no -build alternative was not the best option. He noted the cost <br />involved in acquiring property to facilitate the route, which would be between $105 and $113 million in <br />today's dollars. He determined from Mr. Schwetz that the local match would be about 20 to 40 percent of <br />that total, and indicated LTD intended to seek State funding for the match. Mr. Brown observed that the <br />cost involved was a lot of money to save three minutes of travel time. <br />MMTES--City Council April 14, 2010 Page 3 <br />