A two-way protected bike lane along High Street in Eugene is almost finished. It will connect south Eugene to the Willamette River bike path system.
This project has been in the works for years, according to Willow Hamilton with the City of Eugene.
“It kinda started with the East Amazon protected bikeway and then it connects to the Amazon path and then it’ll connect to this two-way protected bikeway on High street which will take you all the way to the river,” Hamilton said. “So, you can basically go from Ridgeline all the way to the river on what we call an all-ages and abilities or triple-A facility.”
She said the city’s goal is to make biking safer for people of all ages and abilities by building bike lanes that are separated from motor vehicle traffic.
“So, when we can protect people who are biking, meaning there’s a physical barrier between them and people who are driving that contributes to that vision, people feel more comfortable and safe to choose biking,” Hamilton said. “We kind of think of that as an everyone wins situation. When more people choose to bike then there’s less traffic and more space for the people in our city who do choose to drive.”
Hamilton said the High Street bike lanes should be finished before Thanksgiving.
Another two-way bike lane is also being built on 8th Avenue in downtown Eugene.
And, the city recently received a grant to put a protected bike lane on Lincoln Street. Hamilton said the city is seeking public comment on that project at Engage Eugene.
Hamilton said the reason it feels like there’s a lot of road work going on in Eugene right now is that there is.
“I think the reason the construction season in Eugene has been so busy this year is because those supply chain and inflation issues from 2021 and 2022 pushed a lot of projects back and we ended up with a big influx of projects in 2023.” said Hamilton.
Hamilton said you can check the status of road construction projects at tripcheck.com
