LUBA RET. EX 076/077 RE-I - Laserfiche WebLink

• Safety of Oakleigh Lane Page 2 2.Oakleigh Lane does not need to be improved to City standards to safely function. Comments to the Planning Commission also confuse the issue of safety with the issue of street improvements. Oakleigh Lane is adequate to safely accommodate all existing and future trips. It has more than adequate capacityto handle the low traffic volume from the PUD. In addition, there is no crash history on Oakleigh Lane or at its intersection with River Road that would indicate any existing safety issue. I have reviewed crash records in the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) Crash Reporting & Analysis Unit and City records as well, and find no reported crashes on Oakleigh Lane, McClure Lane, or at their intersections with River Road.' Oakleigh Lane's lack of improvement should not be confused with an inherently unsafe condition. Many streets in the City of Eugene, particularly in the River Road area, are similar to Oakleigh Lane, lacking sidewalks, curbs, or striping, and permitting unsegregated parking and travel by vehicles, pedestrians, or cyclists. These streets encourage slower and more cautious travel by drivers who are cognizant of the fact that they must share the road with other users. In fact, the City of Eugene uses a similar design mechanism of using a single travel lane on some low volume City streets - called a "queuing street" design' - and has found the same to be a safe and effective method to reduce travel speeds and pass-through trips for non-local travel. Oakleigh Lane is a dead-end street, with no pass-through trips to contend with, but the on-street parking and unsegregated travel can reasonably be expected to reduce travel speeds. A concern has been raised regarding on street parking on Oakleigh Lane obstructing some portion of the improved street. Oakleigh Lane is not improved with curbs, allowing on-street parking on the shoulders of the paved portion of the street along most of its length. In addition, all of the homes on Oakleigh Lane have private driveways that would permit the parking or garages that will permit the parking of vehicles on the adjoining property. The PUD will likewise provide on-site parking for all of its members and their guests in excess of the City's minimum standards. Parking on the shoulder which incidentally obstructs a portion of the improved surface would not pose a safety issue as drivers would simply drive around the obstruction. In addition, there is some speculation that neighbors could intentionally obstruct potentially as much as six feet of the improved street surface, leaving an improved travel surface of 13 feet along a 250-foot portion of the street. However, even assuming that only 13 feet of the street were available for travel by the public for 250 feet, this would be adequate to accommodate emergency vehicles, and two-way vehicle travel in the same fashion as a queuing street. ' In light of Mr. Trautman's testimony concerning his own accident at Marion Lane, I also had Public Works contact the City of Eugene Police Department to review the police report of that accident and to evaluate the factors (speed, driver error, etc) that may have played into the collision. Public Works staff reported that there is no record of an auto accident or collision at Marion Lane on the morning of May 19, 2011, or during the month of May, 2011. 2 "On local residential streets with traffic volumes less than 750 vehicles per day, a single 14' traffic lane may be permitted for both directions of vehicular travel. The single lane is intended to create a 'queuing street', such that when opposing vehicles meet, one of the vehicles must yield by pulling into a vacant portion of the adjacent parking lane. This queuing effect has been found to be an effective and safe method to reduce speeds and non-local traffic." Arterial and Collector Street Plan, Appendix H, p. 36 • 244