The Eugene City Council, this week, approved a list of projects funded by $15 million in bond money for bicycle, pedestrian and safety projects, and tree planting.
There are 55 projects on the list. It was formed with public input over the past several months with a portion of the 2022 voter-approved $61.2 million transportation bond.
Reed Dunbar is a transportation planner with the city. He said he’s heard from many people in Eugene that they would choose to ride their bikes, walk or take the bus if they felt safer doing so.
“Eliminating barriers by providing better pedestrian crossings and making the existing bikeway network feel safer so people feel more comfortable riding with their children is really critical to a lot of our goals,” Dunbar said. “And I think this is going to get us a long way toward meeting them.”
The vote was 7 to 1 in favor of the list of projects. Councilor Mike Clark was the no vote. He said he thinks the proportion of funds for alternative transportation is too high.
“I’m really concerned with the idea that we have such a high percentage of spending on alternative means of transportation,” Clark said. “Because it wasn’t the reason we started the road bond in the first place.”
The remainder of the bond money is for road projects.
You can see a list of the 55 projects approved by the Eugene City Council at their Monday, Oct. 23 work session here.
