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Corridor Committee September Meeting Change!
The September 1 meeting of the West Eugene EmX Corridor Committee has been changed. The meeting will be a joint meeting of the Corridor Committee advisory group and the EmX Steering Committee. The meeting will take place:

Tuesday, September 7
5:30 p.m.
LTD Glenwood Offices, Maintenance Training Room
3500 East 17th Avenue
Agenda

View current alternatives under consideration - updated August 2010

NEW! Transportation Systems Management (TSM) Alternative 

View revised schedule and process - Updated June 9, 2010 (pdf) 

CURRENT STATUS

Recently, Lane Transit District (LTD) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) discussed the number of alternatives being evaluated for the West Eugene EmX Extension (WEEE). The alternatives developed for this project, combined with the various design options and terminus options, yielded 56 unique routing options, in addition to the project's two standard bus alternatives, "no-build" option (basically do nothing), and a Transportation System Management alternative (making some changes to improve bus flow without developing BRT service or infrastructure). Evaluating and reporting the technical findings for this large number of options has resulted in very lengthy technical reports that do not provide a clear comparison of alternatives and options.

LTD and our partner agencies agreed that 58 alternatives is too many for the public and decision-makers to wade through in an understandable manner. At the same time, LTD staff discovered some alternatives and options previously considered viable have the potential to result in undesirable effects, and/or do not meet the projects' Purpose and Nee or Goals and Objectives.

FTA accepted LTD's recommended change in process to address these concerns. Rather than proceed with the Alternatives Analysis (AA) and Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) concurrently, the process will be sequential. On June 23rd, the LTD Board of Directors adopted a refined number of alternatives based on a review of the preliminary technical enalyses, recommendations from the Eugene City Coucil, and the public process. Next, the project will enter the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) selection process. Last, the environmental document will be prepared. All of this will continue to be accomplished with the advice of our project citizen committees and public input opportunities.

The new process involves the same level of analysis of the alternatives and allows LTD to have timely conversations with the community about the results of the preliminary analysis earlier before entering the more formal federal environmental review process.

At an open house on June 9, LTD was able to share the results of the preliminary analysis to date and made recommendations on a refined number of alignment alternatives. Following the open house, LTD held a worksession with our WEEE Corridor Committee meeting. View the materials from the June 9 open house here.

The reduced set of alternatives adopted by the LTD Board of Directors eliminated the Amazon Alignments, the Seneca Terminus Option, and the Ed Cone Terminus Option. Click here to see the current map of the reduced set of alternatives.

Completion of the Alternatives Analysis Report is expected by late September. The detailed analysis in this report will support the fall selection process for the LPA.

PART OF A COMPLETE SYSTEM

As one extension of what will eventually be a 61-mile system of premium transit service, public input is important. You can comment through the project website (weemx.ltd.org), by e-mail (we.emx@ltd.org), by telephone (541-682-6100), or through your neighborhood representative who participates on the WEEE Corridor Committee. Watch for future open houses and get involved!

Transportation Systems	Hazardous Materials
Land Use	Biological Resources & Endangered Species
Property Acquisition	Fish Ecology
Socioeconomic	Wetlands and Waters of the State and U.S.
Noise	Water Quality and Hydrology
Air Quality	Geology and Earthquake Standards
Visual and Aesthetic Resources	Financial System
Utilities	Historic, Archaeological & Cultural Resources
Operating and Maintenance Costs	Energy and Sustainability
Capital Costs	Public Parks and Recreation Areas and Wildlife and Waterfowl Refuges

As part of the AA process, the team collects data and information about existing conditions and future plans.  LTD will meet individually with property owners and businesses along the alignment alternatives to better understand the issues and develop possible mitigation to minimize property and business impacts. Each of the alternatives is analyzed to determine its potential affect (positive or negative) on the environmental/social element or resource being studied. The results of the analyses will be summarized in the AA Report which will be made available to the public and agencies for review as part of the locally preferred selection process anticipated to begin this fall.

For more information about how you can get involved in WEEE Project, please see Get Involved.

Title VI
The West Eugene EmX Extension project team ensures full compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by prohibiting discrimination against any person on the basis of race, color, national origin or sex in the provision of benefits and services resulting from its federally assisted programs and activities. For questions regarding Title VI, please contact Tom Schwetz, Project Manager for the West Eugene EmX Extension Project, at 541-682-6203, or tom.schwetz@ltd.org.

El equipo del proyecto de Extensión de EmX en West Eugene (Oeste de Eugene), asegura completa implementación del Título VI de la Ley de Derechos Civiles de 1964, que prohibe la discriminación por motivo de raza, color de piel, origen nacional o sexo, en la provisión de beneficios y servicios que sean resultado de programas y actividades que reciban asistencia financiera federal.  Para preguntas referentes al Título VI, favor de ponerse en contacto con Angie Sifuentez en Lane Transit District, Tel. (541) 682-3240, o por correo electrónico: Angie.Sifuentez@LTD.org.