Parkway Politics ODOT says it won't punish city for opposing wetland freeway. BY ALAN PITTMAN Will ODOT punish Eugene for failing to approve the West Eugene Parkway (WEP), as some supporters of the freeway contend? "Absolutely not. I don't know where people are getting that. That's ridiculous," ODOT spokesman Joe Harwood said. Last week ODOT notified the city that if the mayor and council did not change its position against the $170 million freeway through wetlands, the state transportation department would move to officially kill the project. If Eugene doesn't approve the parkway, ODOT will refuse to fund other needed transportation projects, said WEP supporter Councilor Jennifer Solomon at a July 10 meeting. "After what's happened with the West Eugene Parkway," she said, "there won't be any money." Former Eugene Mayor Jim Torrey said the council majority is "making a terrible mistake." If the city kills the WEP, ODOT will say "we can't trust the people in this area to live up to their commitments" and the agency will make it hard to fund other local road projects, Torrey said. But Harwood said that's not what ODOT is saying. ODOT has recognized that it can't "push a project through that the primary jurisdiction doesn't support," he said. "If the West Eugene Parkway dies, we would be more than happy to participate in a collaborative process" to examine and fund alternatives to the parkway, Harwood said. Improvements to Beltline Highway and its intersection with Delta Highway have been a top ODOT priority for more than a decade, according to Harwood. ODOT staff are professionals who aren't out for any political revenge on Eugene, and many ODOT staffers live in the area and are committed to necessary improvements, Harwood said. "We're the second largest metro area in the state, you better believe we're going to get some funding." A 5-4 council majority appears steadfast in its opposition to the WEP. "I never supported the West Eugene Parkway, and I will continue not to support it," said Councilor Andrea Ortiz. Mayor Kitty Piercy said that she would have preferred to collaborate with ODOT on alternatives to the parkway before closing the door on the WEP. But she said ODOT Director Matt Garrett told her they would prefer to conclude the conversation about the WEP before starting another one about alternative projects to address traffic congestion in West Eugene. Garrett "thought funding could be found to support such a process" to later look at alternative projects, Piercy said. Councilor David Kelly said even without Eugene opposition, the parkway faces big obstacles. Federal environmental agencies have expressed serious concerns about running a freeway through the middle of a rare wetlands preserve with endangered species. Since a narrow 2001 vote for the parkway, the project has doubled in price, but funding has been identified for only about 10 percent of the cost. Four years ago, a previous council voted to clear the way for the WEP, but because of other obstacles, the project moved backward, not forward, Kelly noted. Councilor Bonny Bettman dismissed the ODOT punishment rhetoric of WEP supporters as "political posturing." Councilor Betty Taylor blamed the WEP for years of "delay and division" on local transportation planning. Eugene has been mired in the wetland freeway controversy for three decades. The WEP is a remnant of an extensive system of freeways proposed by the state through south Eugene neighborhoods and natural areas in the 1960s. Strong citizen opposition forced the state to cancel all the freeway plans except for the WEP, but opposition continued. Voters approved the WEP route in the 1980s, but an environmental lawsuit in the 1990s forced ODOT back to the drawing board. In 2001, a meeting of local government officials and ODOT planners reached a consensus that the parkway should not be built, and a council majority opposed the project. But under intense lobbying, a councilor switched his vote and the WEP was again referred to voters. After construction and development interests spent a record-breaking $120,000, the WEP passed by a razor thin margin. In 2004 Mayor Kitty Piercy campaigned against the WEP and won election by a wide margin, securing the council majority now opposed to the project. Kelly said that "long ago the parkway stopped being a transportation issue and became a religious issue," and expressed hope that the community could now move beyond the symbolic project and towards alternatives for addressing transportation problems in west Eugene. He noted that not building the WEP would free up limited money in the regional transportation plan for improvements to Beltline and the Delta interchange that were delayed when money was dedicated to the WEP four years ago. Harwood said ODOT is "absolutely" open to exploring many alternatives with the city including improvements to Beltline, West 11th and extending a bus rapid transit line to west Eugene. "We would be glad to participate."
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