EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - Oregon state traffic planners are working on long-term plans to speed traffic along the 50-year-old Randy Pape Beltline in north Eugene, but it’s a job that may be a quarter of a billion dollars and at least a decade away.
The highway wasn’t designed to handle the 90,000 vehicles in a typical day that now drive over spans crossing the Willamette River between River Road and the Delta Highway, the Eugene Register-Guard reports (https://bit.ly/1sLUZGO ).
The stretch has closely spaced interchanges and short ramps that were suitable when the freeway ran through mostly rural territory, but urban development now surrounds it, making for stop-and-go traffic and a place on the state’s list of roads most prone to collisions.
It averages 60 crashes a year, most of them rear-enders resulting from sudden stops or merging. Five have been fatal.
“It’s kind of become more of a bumper-car alley than anything,” said Deb Elder, who tries to avoid the highway between 3 and 7 p.m.
The state Department of Transportation has some short-term steps in mind, such as extending some on-ramps.
It will present a draft plan for the long-term improvement of the segment at an open house Tuesday. Among its features: options for a new river bridge, roads parallel to the Beltline for merging and exiting traffic, and more interchange adjustments.
Depending on what design is chosen, the project is expected to cost $210 million to $270 million in today’s dollars. The price tag doesn’t include needed right of way.
State officials say no construction funding has been identified, and state and federal highway funds are stretched thin. Federal funding is off from its peak of stimulus funding, and state gasoline taxes are yielding less as people buy more fuel-efficient vehicles.
“As a result of a whole variety of trends coming together, we’re going to have a very limited budget going forward to really tackle the needs of the transportation system,” said Travis Brouwer, the Department of Transportation’s chief of staff.
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Information from: The Register-Guard, https://www.registerguard.com
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