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AUGUST 1996 EUGENE LOCAL STREET PLAN SECTION V. PROPOSED LOCAL RESIDENTIAL STREET STANDARDS The Eugene Local Street Plan proposes a broader range of local residential street types and include narrower street cross sections than are currently allowed. Local residential streets which are as narrow as possible have several benefits to the community. Narrow streets costs less to build and maintain. Less road base is needed and less surface area is paved. This results in lower materials and labor costs. City of Eugene staff estimates that an 8' reduction in local street width results in at least a 10% reduction in paving, sidewalk, and finishing costs. • Narrow streets reduce the negative impacts of stormwater runoff. Paved streets are impervious surfaces which prevent the filtration of stormwater into the ground. Therefore, streets increase the volume of stormwater runoff, which can cause flooding, erosion, and habitat destruction, as well as reducing the groundwater supply. Excess paving also causes increased pollution of surface waters as a result of contaminants from the roadway surface entering the stormwater system. The City of Eugene Stormwater Management Program recognizes reduced street widths as a means of reducing the volume of runoff in the Technical Memorandum #1: Residential Street Standards, published in March, 1995. • Narrow streets reduce the negative environmental impacts of street construction. A narrow street cross section will help minimize environmental impacts by requiring less land than a wider street. For improvements on existing unimproved streets, narrow widths will reduce the need to remove existing plants and trees. • Narrow streets encourage more efficient land use. The land saved by using narrow street designs can be used for other purposes including housing, landscaping and open spaces. • Narrow streets increase traffic safety. Narrow street designs will discourage the use of local streets by through traffic and help reduce traffic volumes and speeds. This will help to create quiet, safe residential streets with low traffic volumes and speeds. According to Residential Streets, published in 1990 by the American Society of Civil Engineers, the National Association of Homebuilders, and the Urban Land Institute, "Excessive widths... encourage greater vehicle speeds." Lower vehicle speeds will also reduce the sc%,crity of pedestrian automobile accidents. According to the Center for Urban Transportation Research, approximately 55% of accidents are fatal to the pedestrian when vehicle speeds are 30 mph and over, while only 5% are fatal to the pedestrian when vehicle speeds are 20 mph or lower. Narrow streets improve neighborhood character. The positive environmental, land use, and traffic safety impacts of narrow streets all work to improve the character and livability of residential neighborhoods. The 1980 Bucks County, Pennsylvania publication, Performance Streets, recognized that the purpose of local streets should be "not solely to move traffic safely and efficiently, but to ensure that the needs of people for a residential neighborhood that is quiet, safe, pleasant, convenient, and sociable are met as well. EUGENE LOCAL STREET PLAN 47