Item A: South Willamette Street Improvement Plan

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Please let me give some suggestions for improving traffic flow and safety along south Willamette Street. I have lived at 260 W. 20th for 14 years. I do most of my shopping and banking at businesses between 24th and 30th along Willamette. I walk the College Hill neighborhood and use my car weekly to get groceries. My husband and I ride bikes, he rides to the U of O regularly for work, and we have two adult sons who have worked in the bicycle business here in Eugene in the past.My first suggestion is that we do not reduce the number of lanes for car traffic along Willamette. That will always be the primary street that cars can use to go to and fro from south Eugene and downtown. I do not think it wise to encourage bicyclists to use Willamette for reasons of SAFETY. Maybe a 20 or 30 year old is agile enough to avoid an encounter on that busy street but a senior or a child on a bike, I feel, would not be safe. I have seen too many close calls on that street between 28th and 24th due to drivers trying to hurry. I think it needs to be monitored more closely by the police to catch speeding and drivers cutting I believe encouraging bike riding in this area you are studying. Please look at the whole area, the streets from Amazon Parkway west to Lincoln, and consider these possibilities:1. encourage bicyclists to go north-south on Oak street from 24th to 29th. Oak street is a quiet neighborhood street in this area and leads into SouthTowne shopping complex.2. add a crosswalk with flashing light, s 30th, along Willamette about where 25th or 26th would be. Make it easier for bikers using Oak to come west to Willamette and access the shops on the west side of the street, such as Metropol Bakery, Glenwood Café, and others. This would also make it easier for people walking or riding bikes from College Hill. Making more highly visible crosswalks for bikers and walkers along this section of Willamette may also slow down the cars.3. On the College Hill side consider encouraging bikers and walkers to use a residential street parallel to Willamette, such as Portland St. or Olive.4. Look at the alleys available for walkers and bikers. Our house being in the middle of the block, between Lincoln and Charnelton, our property runs along an alley that is partly paved. I believe this alley runs from 19th to 25th. If it were completely paved It would be a safe and pleasant route for bicyclers and walkers. I see many people commuting to work in my neighborhood. Cars are parked on both sides of the street on College Hill. I often have to slow down behind a bicycler, at dusk returning home, as he or she negotiates the parked cars and the steep hill.5. Encourage every business, or parking lot in front of a group of stores, to have adequate and highly visible spaces for bicyclists to park and lock their bikes. As the city encourages infilling for housing and we develop our downtown and encourage more people to shop and live there, we must look at ways to encourage people to own no more than one car. To do that we must provide SAFE bike routes for ALL AGES. We must look at how our neighborhoods and shopping areas connect, and how can we improve the connections for the bicyclists and walkers. Maybe we will have to designate some streets as only bicycle streets, allowing people who own homes on the street, mailtrucks, emergency vehicles and delivery trucks as the only exceptions. I suggest 15th street be a restricted car/truck street. Painting a white line along the side of the street is not my idea of creating a safe bicycle route. There are very few streets in Eugene, especially in the older and hilly sections of town, that are wide enough to accommodate bicycles and cars. Too often the bicyclist recognizes that the street is not safe and goes up on the sidewalk, but that endangers the walker. I have more times than I can count been almost run down by a bicycle while walking along Willamette and other streets in Eugene. Thank you for listening and I hope these suggestions help.