QuickTake:

Community and city leaders are trying to reduce pedestrian traffic deaths along the Eugene thoroughfare. It’s a busy corridor — and a place where the homeless congregate. One unhoused man called this stretch “death row.”

Oregon Highway 99 enters Eugene’s northwest border, passing the Eugene Airport and serving as an industrial corridor for the city.

It’s also a place where people live and die after they fall on hard times. 

Train tracks line the land behind the road’s east side. Homeless people camp and congregate in the space tucked between buildings and railroad ties.

Cheap motels, homeless shelters and social-service agencies dot the highway, spaced between retail stores, fast-food restaurants and mechanic shops. People use drugs, some along the sides of vacant buildings, while others openly share with their companions near bus stops.

A crosswalk lies across a section of Highway 99, offering a pathway for pedestrians to cross the road toward St. Vincent de Paul’s Eugene Service Station, a day shelter that provides services to homeless people. Many use the crosswalk. Many others don’t.

This is a four-lane highway that people sometimes must cross while in the grips of a mental health crisis, the throes of drug addiction or bearing the weight of untreated chronic health conditions after years of life on the streets.

It’s a place where the harshness of life on the streets intersects with the challenges of a heavily traveled corridor, a roughly half-mile stretch between Royal Avenue on the north and Roosevelt Boulevard to the south.

It’s also a hot spot for pedestrian traffic deaths in Eugene, with at least five such fatalities in 2023 and 2024, among the city’s highest rates.

Donald Burdick, 55, is among those living along Highway 99. Homeless, he said he’s lost 80% of his vision after a series of strokes. He relies on a friend to cross the street so he doesn’t miss seeing a fast-moving vehicle.

“Usually, I have a pair of eyes with me,” he said, adding that brighter lane markings would help him with his vision impairment. “I definitely took my eyes for granted.”

‘Highway 99 is death row’

According to a city report, the five pedestrians who died in crashes in the portion of Highway 99 within Eugene’s urban growth area make up almost a third of the 17 pedestrian traffic deaths citywide in 2023 and 2024.

The homeless who live along Highway 99 are well aware of the danger. Thomas Zeigler, 35, has been homeless for more than a year in Eugene. The heavy traffic, he said, is just one daily issue among others, such as finding work and housing or simply staying warm. On those nights when he sleeps outside, he’s often robbed.

“Highway 99 is just the worst place to be,” he said. “Highway 99 is death row.”

The deaths — and the ongoing risk for pedestrians — have raised concerns in the community and caught the attention of city leaders. The city plans to hire a consultant to study the corridor and come up with a design that is safer for pedestrians, bicyclists and people catching the bus. The city will pick the consultant early next year and plans to kick off the study in 2026, said Jody Trendler, a senior transportation planner with the city of Eugene.

The request for proposals was advertised Nov. 18 and closed Dec. 16 for the study, which also includes River Road. It will examine issues such as gaps between crosswalks and hot spots for speeding. And it will look for design options to improve pedestrian safety.

Eugene Police Sgt. Nate Pieske said vehicle-pedestrian fatalities are an issue along that stretch. Improving the situation requires shared responsibility among all people who walk and drive on the road, he said, adding that police investigate each case and the driver is not always at fault.

Nevertheless, he said, one thing is true in all the fatalities: “Every one is a tragedy.”

Community resource liaison at Lane Transit District Sarah Koski hands out high visibility accessories along Highway 99 in Eugene, Sept. 2, 2025. Homeless advocates are concerned about pedestrian vulnerability along that stretch of highway. Credit: Ben Botkin

Neighborhood efforts include outreach

The city’s neighborhood association, Active Bethel Community, has identified Highway 99 as a priority, both for traffic and pedestrian safety and for long-term economic development. 

“It’s real tough for the businesses out there,” said Tai Pruce-Zimmerman, a co-chair of the neighborhood association. “It’s real tough for the people that are out there. It’s not even remotely pedestrian-safe. It’s also set up in a way that has a lot of pedestrians on it.”

The configuration of the road, with campsites on one side of the highway and services on the other, means that foot traffic inevitably crosses the highway.

“I don’t think the setup we have on 99 was done thoughtfully and intentionally and planned,” Pruce-Zimmerman said. 

The group has facilitated meetings, including with businesses and St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County, to identify shared interests in the region. 

St. Vincent de Paul’s Eugene Service Station provides meals, showers and referrals, including to its nearby emergency shelter, Dawn to Dawn, which is also along the highway. It’s a drop-in shelter where up to 125 people can stay overnight in heated tents.

Bethany Cartledge, the executive director of St. Vincent de Paul, said the deaths are traumatic for everyone involved, including clients, staffers and drivers.

“We have not witnessed a single hit-and-run, and everyone who has been a driver has been very shaken up and visibly upset,” Cartledge said.

St. Vincent de Paul staff have provided clients with flashlights and high-visibility vests to wear for safety.

Sarah Koski, a community resource liaison at Lane Transit District, also does that work. The transit district’s bus routes serve people in the region, including stops along Highway 99. 

“Handing out lights and reflective gear is a small act with lifesaving potential,” Koski said. “It says, ‘You matter enough to be seen.’ For someone walking at night without shelter, a light can mean the difference between being noticed and being struck.”

From time to time, Koski rides the buses and ventures outside, walking along the sidewalks of Highway 99 to visit people.

“When we listen to souls on the street, we build a safer system for everyone,” Koski said. “Our vision for transit includes listening. Walking Highway 99 and spending time in conversation helps us understand where safety breaks down and where it can be strengthened.”

A Route 99 sign seen along Highway 99 in Eugene, Sept. 11, 2025. Credit: Isaac Wasserman / Lookout Eugene-Springfield / Catchlight / RFA

Correspondent Michael Zhang contributed to this report.

For two decades, Ben Botkin’s journalism career saw him criss-cross the West, a path with stops in rural Idaho, Las Vegas and, now, finally, Lane County. Ben reported on local government and the statehouse in Idaho before he moved to the Bulletin in Bend and covered education in central Oregon.

Then, for four years, he covered Clark County government, which has oversight over the Las Vegas Strip, and served as the lead political reporter during the 2016 election cycle. During that time, Ben wrote about the county’s child welfare agency, law enforcement, the start of Nevada’s medical marijuana industry and homeland security. His reporting sparked the criminal indictments and convictions of three government officials, including a city animal control supervisor convicted of animal cruelty.

He also covered national stories like the 2016 armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon and the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas.

Since 2018, Ben has reported on Oregon state government, first for the Statesman-Journal in Salem and then for The Lund Report, a Portland-based nonprofit that covers health care. His reporting on gaps in children’s health coverage led to state Medicaid policy changes.

Most recently, Ben worked more than two years at the Oregon Capital Chronicle, where he covered criminal justice, health and human services. His work often incorporates the voices of vulnerable Oregonians from all walks of life.

As Lookout’s Politics & Policy Correspondent, Ben digs up the most intriguing and relevant stories about how Lane County decisions impact residents.