Lane Transit District is scaling back a planned bus rapid transit project in the River Road area amidst lower than anticipated ridership and rising costs.
The city of Eugene and Lane Transit District have been working together to expand mobility across five growing areas: Coburg Road, 30th Avenue to Lane Community College, Highway 99, and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and River Road. The collaboration, Moving Ahead, has been in the works for years.
LTD Planning Director David Roth, told the Board on Wednesday that the planned River Road Emerald Express route will cost 30% more than originally anticipated because of disruption in the construction industry.
Ridership in that area is also about 30% lower than expected.
"Every agency, planning and delivering capital projects has been impacted,” he said, “with the results being scope reductions or often delayed, or canceled projects.”
Building infrastructure for EmX was originally expected to cost about $78 million and now would cost $103 million. The scaled down version, an enhanced transit corridor, will cost about $31.7 million, according to an email from LTD.
Board members unanimously agreed on the smaller version of the project.
“This makes a lot of sense, the world has changed so much since the pandemic,” Board Member Pete Knox said. “We have a lot more information now. I think this is a reasonable decision”
The lower-cost transit corridor improvements will include bus lanes, bus signals, as well as pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure.
Eugene City Council will also have to sign off on the change and will likely hear the scaled down proposal at a meeting next month.
