The portion of Franklin Boulevard from Onyx Street to the Willamette River, considered by many to be the main gateway into Eugene and the University, boasts no bicycle lanes or sidewalks, and is missing large-scale housing and vibrant commercial centers. This major artery has been neglected over the years and left to wither, but the boulevard may soon have a whole new look.
With such great potential to wow visitors and residents cruising into Eugene, city officials and a group of University students led by Architecture professor Mark Gillem are in the midst of creating more than just a new look for the commercial strip: They are developing the area into a vibrant neighborhood.
“Franklin is an eyesore that repels development … developers aren’t attracted to (the street),” Gillem said. “It’s a prime candidate for redevelopment … but right now, it’s just something you drive through.”
Franklin Boulevard, from Onyx Street to Interstate 5, runs directly through the heart of an area city planners refer to as the Walnut Station Mixed Use Center.
City officials share a vision of this mixed-use center that includes 1,400 new residential dwellings, along with cafés, restaurants, retail shops, and a new design to the street.
By redeveloping Franklin Boulevard, officials hope the area will transform into a lively commercial center, complete with residents enjoying exciting outdoor spaces, bicyclists and pedestrians moving safely through the area, and commuters traveling down the corridor who would stop and dip into a retail store, or enjoy dinner and a drink with some friends.
“This is a whole community vision with more businesses and more housing,” said Kurt Yeiter, the principal planner for Eugene’s Planning Department. “It will add a lot of value for a lot of the properties and will be an incentive for businesses to come in and invest here.”
The Eugene Planning Department began a study in May 2005 to redevelop this area, but the boulevard proved to be the principal part of the plan.
“Franklin is really the backbone for the whole plan because we have to find a way to accommodate the traffic,” Yeiter said. “Franklin will have to be done before all the redevelopment of the mixed-use center can be completed.”
The multi-way concept divides Franklin Boulevard into three separate sections on both sides with a two-way EmX route running in between.
In this concept, a sidewalk borders both sides of the boulevard and is paralleled by a local-access lane. The local-access lane consists of on-street parking, a bicycle lane, and a slower-moving traffic lane that would access businesses and residential streets.
A larger two- or three-lane section would handle higher-speed traffic moving through the area, accommodating drivers who are not making local stops. It would be separated from the local-access lane by a median, and vehicles would be able to exit this lane once per block, or possibly every other block, to improve the flow of traffic.
The city’s planning department has yet to make a “formal determination” of whether to accept this multi-way boulevard, but it “did support moving forward with planning for the (multi-way) concept in 2006, and the current staff recommendation is to continue with this direction with no significant changes,” Jason Dedrick, planning manager for the Walnut Station Project, said in an e-mail.
City planners will meet on Monday to further discuss the unresolved issues of project, but hopes are high that the new design for Franklin Boulevard will help more than just polish the image of the city for incoming visitors.
“The project will make for a much more attractive street, it will accommodate the growth that will happen in the city,” Gillem said. “This will be a great benefit to the neighborhood and the city.”
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