As cars sit idling on the corner of 18th Avenue and Willamette Street, with Blockbuster video on the left and HP gas station on the right, the stoplight turns green, and the drag race down Willamette Street past the stop sign to turn left on 20th Avenue begins.
This two-block stretch is the only major arterial road pumping commuters from downtown into south Eugene. But its one-way flow is currently meant to only be used as a residential street, causing an overload of cars jostling for position before one lane forces traffic to turn back into downtown, while the other continues into south Eugene.
As residents race by the businesses and homes along these two blocks, they’re asking the little street to supply a big function – maybe too big.
“We’re asking Willamette Street to do a lot,” said Chris Henry, the project manager for the city’s Willamette Street Study.
But city planners have recognized this problem and begun working with residents and local business owners on a project that could change the look of these two blocks of one-way traffic along Willamette Street between 18th and 20th Avenues.
In 2004 the city altered Willamette Street from 13th Avenue to 18th Avenue from a one-way street into the current two-way traffic. At the same time the Eugene City Council asked a group of stakeholders, made up of business owners, residents and commuters, to come back to them with a plan for the two blocks from 18thto 20th Avenues. The group has worked out three alternatives to the current look, and stakeholders in the project have a tentative meeting scheduled for early April in which the public will be invited to come and share their concerns on the issue.
“It’s a community decision, and we’re working with stakeholders to identify their issues of concern,” Henry said.
The first alternative whittles the two existing lanes of one-way travel down to one lane moving south along Willamette Street.
Option two converts the two blocks of Willamette Street into two-way travel, complete with a southbound bike lane and parking on the east side of the street.
The final alternative is similar to option two, but provides parking on both sides of Willamette Street, and the southbound bike lane ends at 19th Avenue.
Residents in the area have condemned the plan, however, because they feel it will unfairly turn what should be a cozy local lane into a bustling artery, according to recorded testimony from city meetings. Business owners also have complained that the conversion will hurt businesses because the proposed changes will hamper shoppers’ access into the stores.
Henry said the group should make a decision this spring on which option to pursue, or decide not to take any action and leave the street as it is. The city council will then hold a series of meetings on the subject, possibly an additional public hearing, and then take action by deciding which avenue to go down.
Henry said there is funding identified for the project in 2011, but admitted, “priorities do change over time.”
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