The traffic corridor represented by Hilyard and Patterson streets, between 13th and 18th avenues, demands attention from both the city of Eugene and Eugene’s drivers. Anyone who stands on a Hilyard Street corner will quickly understand that the question of how to judge a break in traffic large enough to run across is far too prominent in one’s mind.
People do not mosey across this street, and traffic is not slowed or stopped by roundabouts, signals or stop signs. People wait and then dash through three-to-five second breaks in the traffic that runs between the stoplights at 18th and 13th. It is a notably disconcerting experience for many neighborhood residents.
Currently, the city of Eugene allows motorists to use Hilyard as a traffic thoroughfare, while leaving pedestrians to cross it as if it were a quiet residential street that did not see thousands of cars a day. This is not even to mention that the traffic very often flows above the posted 30 mph speed limit.
The city of Eugene has set up a situation where it wants to have the convenience of a high-volume traffic corridor without the responsibility of providing pedestrians with the measures necessary for a safer passage across this busy street. If these sections of Hilyard and Patterson truly are residential streets, then traffic control measures need to be in place to force traffic to flow in a residential manner. These measures would include such things as a lower posted speed limit, speed bumps and traffic circles.
On the other hand, if this traffic corridor truly is a thoroughfare, other measures must be taken, again, to provide pedestrians with a reasonable sense of safety when crossing these streets. These measures would include increasing lighting, adding marked crosswalks, and even pedestrian crossing signals that would signal traffic to stop for an occupied crosswalk.
There must be a shift in how these streets are viewed and treated. Up to this point, pedestrians have had to take unacceptable risks when crossing these streets, especially Hilyard. The city of Eugene, and Eugene motorists need to weigh the benefit of a faster trip downtown with the quality of life for individuals living in and walking through this area.
It is no secret that weekends see a vast quantity of intoxicated students crossing these streets. They prove extremely hazardous for drivers, sober and drunk alike. While it is not pleasant to think about, it is a reality, and it must be dealt with accordingly.
The tragic accident that took the life of Lucy Lahr on the corner of 13th and Hilyard earlier this month shows that even with traffic enforcement or control measures, not all injuries or deaths can be prevented; however, the implementation of more adequate traffic control devices could prevent additional incidents – such as the one that took the life of Brian Reams – from happening.
If a painted crosswalk or crossing signal could guarantee a pedestrian’s safety at one intersection, why couldn’t it do so at other busy pedestrian crossings? To think such a remedy for Hilyard Street would be ineffective would suggest that all markers, such as pedestrian signals, provide nothing more than a false sense of security to pedestrians, and should therefore be removed. This is of course not true. Signals and signs that help coordinate the flow of pedestrian and vehicular traffic do make intersections safer, and the City of Eugene needs to help better coordinate this interface of feet and steel in the West University neighborhood.