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Overview:
Work is paused on Chambers Street bridge while the city works out details with Union Pacific railroad. A city spokesperson says the community supports the projects.
Motorists around Eugene are curious about what’s happening at various road construction sites — and why work has stopped on one busy road.
Chambers Street & Roosevelt Boulevard seismic retrofit
The city of Eugene began a roadwork project in early March to retrofit the Chambers Street Bridge at Roosevelt Boulevard to be able to withstand earthquakes and allow better access for emergency vehicles.
As of April, the project was placed on a stop work order for a number of reasons. According to city of Eugene Public Affairs Manager Marion Suitor Barnes, one reason was that people were not following the designated detour plan for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.
“It turned out that people were not following the rules of that detour the way they were supposed to, and so we required the contractor to make another one that was harder for people to skirt around and they had to get that approved,” Barnes said. “So that was kind of the initial tiny little pause that we were planning.”
What was expected to be a brief pause has turned out to be a much longer delay.
As the project was continuing, workers found they needed to access Union Pacific’s tracks and property to get at the underside of the bridge.
Permission from Union Pacific has been slow in coming.
“They’re a private company and so that’s been a work in progress, because anytime you’re working with a big, nationwide company like that, it involves (the Oregon Department of Transportation) and so there’s a bunch of paperwork and forms,” Barnes said.
Construction was set to resume mid-May, but did not pick up. It is unknown when the project will resume, Barnes said.
According to the city’s website, Eugene officials “are currently working to execute a contract with railroad flaggers, a key step in moving towards resuming work. Work may resume later in the summer once authorization from the railroad is obtained.”
River Road and Irving Road intersection
Because of frequent crashes at the River Road and Irving Road intersection, Eugene finished its first protected intersection last November.
The intersection features new red, raised truck aprons, separate lanes for bikes and more precise turn lanes for drivers. Barnes said the crosswalk and street lights now give pedestrians a head start when they’re crossing the intersection.
“This was a super-dangerous intersection,” Barnes said. “Lots of crashes, serious crashes, in this area.”
The intersection now has designated left turn lanes, and Barnes said the addition of these lanes has helped traffic move at a better pace.
The raised aprons on the corners are intended to slow drivers in the intersection. Drivers of large vehicles can drive over the raised portions, if necessary. Over the course of a 15-minute visit to the intersection June 3, a Lookout Eugene-Springfield reporter saw several passenger cars drive over the aprons.
“We are trying to force people to turn slower in order to be able to get around that corner. It’s a tight turn,” Barnes said.
This road work project was part of the city’s Vision Zero Action Plan, which uses data to identify the city’s most dangerous intersections to make changes and reduce traffic deaths and injuries.
24th Avenue protected bike lanes
Later this month, the city is set to begin work on adding protected bike lanes on East 24th Avenue, on the 0.6-mile stretch between Amazon Path and Agate Street. In a protected bike lane, a curb separates the bike lane from the street.
The project will remove 73 spaces of on-street parking between Hilyard Street and Agate. The project will occur along with repaving of 24th Avenue.
“Anytime we’re repaving, we try to get as much done as we can at one time,” Barnes said. “We were looking at the bike lanes that were currently already in that stretch of road, and they’re there, but they’re just standard. For safety reasons, we wanted to add some sort of protected bike lane instead of the standard bike lane.”
A University of Oregon student was struck and killed by a delivery driver in 2023 on 24th Avenue.
Barnes said residents and businesses in the area were mainly in favor of the addition of protected bike lanes, even if it means losing parking.
“When we did all of the community engagement, it was overwhelmingly in support,” Barnes said.
The city is currently helping the residents of East 24th Avenue apply for residential parking permits to make up for the loss of parking spaces, Barnes said.
