WETLANDS:
West Eugene Transportation, Land and Neighborhood Design Solutions

SLIDESHOW:
virtual tour, hidden history

2 page summary (pdf)

Permanent Cancellation?
WEP not 100% dead yet
WEP removed from State Transportation plan November 2006, Feds issued No Build decision March 2007

• ODOT needs to transfer wetlands to BLM for permanent cancellation - put a survey stake through WEP's heart
• City of Eugene needs to rename City owned parcels as "parkland" to prevent a new WEP proposal

West Eugene Collaborative: two flavors of elites exclude 9 neighborhood groups
welcomes proposal for reviving half of the WEP

• WEC created by Mary O'Brien
• what is collaboration?
• Osprey group consultants helped Kansas DOT approve highway through wetlands
• 2006 Osprey Report ignored 2001 "No Build" consensus and WETLANDS

Fake Alternatives

• WEP plus Bus Rapid Transit
  Crandall - Arambula (2002)
  Don Kahle proposal (2006)
  West Eugene Collaborators (2008)
• Measure 20-53 - November 2001 City of Eugene "alternative" included 2/3rds of WEP
• half a WEP is twice as illegal

top lies about WEP

WEP a Federal, not city, decision

WETLANDS alternative

• Cost of Alternative ($17, $88 or $169 million)
• Purpose and Need met by WETLANDS (not by WEP)
• Avoidance criteria met by WETLANDS
• Roosevelt Blvd. is a better connector between Beltline and 99, it serves northwest Eugene neighborhoods better than WEP could. Some local traffic would use Roosevelt, regional through traffic would bypass on Belt Line.
• transfer WEP money to finish Beltline, fix Roosevelt / 99 intersection
  two options for completing Beltline: (1) if Peak Oil is here, (2) if Peak Oil is not yet here. The larger option could convert Beltline to an interstate highway - perhaps I-605?
• transfer ODOT / City lands for WEP to BLM's West Eugene Wetlands Project
• new roads: First - 99 - Second Connector, Barger Road Extended & Trainsong Connector (to NW Expressway)
• fix West 11th intersections (would cost about $2 million, the cost to complete WEP study), other road repairs
• bicycle paths and lanes, pedestrian safety enhanced by road test for drivers license renewals
• land use shifts to coordinate transit and development, mixed use centers, co-housing neighborhoods
• "Saving Oil in a Hurry" - practical steps toward coping with sudden energy shortages, road safety, speed limits
• upgrade Amtrak to enable high speed trains to Seattle
• Second and Garfield: ideal location for Eugene's new hospital (central & accessible)
• I-5 / Beltline interchange: a practical, cheaper alternative ignored by ODOT
  I-5 Willamette River Bridge: a cheaper alternative
• Bus Rapid Transit on Hwy 99 instead of WEP makes more sense

the money was not there

• WEP alternatives:
  $17, $88, or $169 million

WEP would worsen traffic

• more traffic lights than WETLANDS alternative
• WETLANDS alternative meets "purpose and need" - WEP would not
• WEP would increase north-south traffic on feeder roads and would clog up W. 11th intersections
• WEP would not help trips in the City of Eugene - more traffic lights and more circuitous trips
• Segmentation and Logical Termini: Western Terminus (Veneta) - Eastern Terminus (105) - 6th & 7th would be overloaded
• Construction Phasing and the Couplet Alternative (Beltline traffic would be funneled through 5th and 7th Place in the industrial area)
• Lies, Damn Lies and Traffic Statistics: growth projections in the SDEIS, SFEIS, Year 2025 and Region 2050
• induced growth and circular arguments: we need the road because of growth, and the growth is dependent on the road
• Beltline Interchange issues
• ODOT removed left turn access at Seneca Road to avoid State requirements, wants City to pay for maintainance

articles

WEP dictionary

hidden history of the WEP

• 1951 to 1972: Roosevelt Freeway proposal (and other dead highways), 1959 and 1967 plans
• 1978: T-2000 plan for 6th / 7th Freeway and Whiteaker Bypass
• 1985 to 1990: WEP approval process (Record of Decision issued 1990)
• 1996: lawsuit forced withdrawal of ROD
• 1997: Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement
• 1999: FHWA and ODOT secret effort to remove Section 4(f) protection for BLM nature preserve
• 2001 and 2001: City of Eugene warned by FHWA they cannot approve WEP if illegally segmented
• June 19, 2001: No Build Consensus: Federal Highway Admin., BLM, ODOT, Lane County, City of Eugene
• November 2001: Election and subsequent TransPlan Amendments to include most of WEP in transportation plans
• Summer 2002: a few opponents design larger WEP with worse damage to wetlands and forests
• 2002 to 2005: ODOT makes new designs (none are feasible), ignores WETLANDS alternative
• 2006: City and FHWA hire Osprey Group for "collaboration" - Federal Highway - new route idea - WEP removed from State Transportation plan
• 2007: No Build officially selected, "West Eugene Collaborative" started, west Eugene neighbors excluded
• 2008: Collaborators consider proposal for reviving half the highway

maps

• WETLANDS alternative
• WEP would not solve traffic problems
• Bus Rapid Transit (EmX)
• WEP route options: 1997, 2003, 2005
• photos of 2005 map
• aerial photos of WEP area - Summer 2002
• June 2006: Federal Highway proposes small change to the WEP route
• ODOT maps: west of Danebo - east of Danebo - Beltline Interchange - 5th / 7th Couplet - Eastern Terminus
• Roosevelt Freeway: 1959 plan and 1967 plan
• 1978 Whiteaker Bypass or 6th / 7th Freeway
• Land and Water Conservation Fund lands
• floodplains and WEP
• Amazon Creek relocation

one of the most illegal highways ever

• 1996 federal lawsuit overturned 1990 approval (Feds conceded defeat before trial)
• FHWA, BLM, ODOT, Lane County and City Eugene promised "No Build" on June 19, 2001
• Cooperating Agencies: BLM and Army Corps of Engineers did not participate in required "Scoping" of Alternatives
• WEP does not meet the Purpose and Need - the WETLANDS alternative does
• Avoidance, Minimization, Mitigation: WETLANDS versus WEP
• Wetlands Mitigation Bank is Bankrupt, replacement wetlands are inferior
• Segmentation and Logical Termini: Western Terminus (Veneta), Eastern Terminus (I-105)
• Land and Water Conservation Fund LWCF lands cannot be used for a highway
• Section 4(f) protects parkland from paving
• Peak Oil and climate change are "new circumstances" that requires reopening the NEPA process
• City of Eugene Adopted Growth Management Policies violated by WEP
• Endangered Species Act: a "license to kill" - Road Kill: Fender's Blue Butterfly and Car Fenders
  controlled burning for wet prairie restoration incompatible with WEP
• environmental justice: WEP traffic dumped onto 6th and 7th would severely impact Whiteaker neighborhood

West Eugene Wetlands

• slideshow: virtual tour of the WEP wrong-of-way
• Amazon Creek proposed relocation for WEP
• Bertelsen Nature Park - forested wetlands threatened by WEP
• rare wet prairie and forested wetlands - a delicate balance of hydrology
• plants of the West Eugene Wetlands - photos by Linda Swisher
• Endangered Species Act: a "license to kill" - Road Kill: Fender's Blue Butterfly and Car Fenders
  controlled burning for wet prairie restoration incompatible with WEP
• Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglass - a letter that protected a park from a parkway
• sand and gravel - impacts of an elevated WEP in the wetlands

From: Barbara Kelley
Sent: Tuesday, 28 May, 2002 10:55 AM
On June 14, 1996, the highway was just about to go through. Therefore, Save Our ecoSystems (SOS), with Attorney Dave Bahr, filed lawsuit Civil 6161-HO in federal court against the Federal Highway Administration, citing violations of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). SOS won! On July 30, 1996, we were informed:

“Prior to any construction proceeding, we still need to receive the 404 permit from the US Army Corps of Engineers, application pending, and complete coordination with the US Fish and Wildlife Service on threatened and endangered species. In addition we are now in the process of conducting a supplemental EIS for the entire project, rather than just the western and eastern portions. Therefore, we are suspending our approval of the PS&E for the construction of the middle section of the West Eugene Parkway project.”

This lawsuit was settled out of court six weeks after being filed, without ever going in front of a judge. The FHWA knew there was no point to defending the WEP, since the case was extremely illegal and they would lose.

While all of the government planners at all levels of government are aware that the WEP lacked “legal sufficiency” and therefore the FHWA would not even attempt to defend their side in federal court, this historical fact is curiously absent from the various pro-WEP statements from elected officials, ODOT publications, the SDEIS and its re-evaluation, and propaganda from the private promoters from the Chamber of Commerce and similar entities who have financial interests in the WEP and/or related sprawl overdevelopment.