Franklin Boulevard Transformation

Otto Poticha, FAIA, recently sent me an email suggesting the AIA Oregon/Eugene Section Committee on Local Affairs (CoLA) become more actively involved in the City of Eugene’s current planning for major changes to Franklin Boulevard. He rightfully believes the project is too important to the community for CoLA to ignore. Thanks to Otto, it’s clear to me its implications are far-reaching and certainly worthy of my attention and that of all Eugene-based design professionals. The City hopes to transform Franklin Boulevard from an automobile-oriented arterial to a safe, comfortable, high quality, walking, biking, and transit street. Additionally, the project goals include: 

1. Improving the corridor for businesses, residents, and the university population 
2. Doubling the BRT lanes
3. Accommodating motorists and freight
4. Welcoming people to the city and the University of Oregon 
5. Making the area attractive, green, and connected 
6. Changing the street so people walking and cycling are accommodated safely, comfortably, and conveniently

The Franklin Boulevard Transformation project area extends between Alder Street and Interstate 5, and includes Garden Avenue and its connections to Franklin Boulevard. 

The City hired are large team of specialists for the project: 

• HDR: Traffic analyses, street and intersection design, public transit design, and traffic control 
• Cogito: Public engagement 
• Toole Design: Pedestrian and bike accommodation, business relations, street design, and urban design 
• SERA: Gateways, arrival experience, character

As noted on the project’s web page, the boulevard—with its wide lanes and fast-moving vehicles—can be an uninviting, unsafe, and uncomfortable street. For people who walk, bike, or ride the bus, it can be a significant barrier to getting from place to place, hindering the City’s long-term efforts to reach climate-reduction goals. 

Fortunately, the future of Franklin Boulevard may be bright. If successful, the project will achieve its stated goals, with the street wholly transformed to become a more comfortable connector of places, rather than a divider. Ideally the street will serve all modes of travel, graciously accommodating people who walk, bike, ride the bus, and drive. 

The project kicked off last October and will conclude late this year. The City is providing opportunities for community input throughout the process, including two intensive, multi-day workshops, the first of which occurred in January. That four-day workshop gathered ideas, incorporating them into preliminary design concepts for a transformed Franklin Boulevard. 

A concept image from the January 31, 2019 Franklin Boulevard Transformation reveal presentation

Otto attended the initial workshop, remarking that besides himself, only CoLA member Eric Gunderson was on hand to represent local AIA members. In his typical fashion, Otto quickly cut to the chase: Why no specific mention of the Millrace, the Willamette River, and Judkins Point? Shouldn’t such key physical features be factored into the development of a new vision for Franklin Boulevard? Ditto for the new Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact and its “scientists-only” pedestrian bridge. How will necessary standards for highway utilities and lighting be addressed? 

Why is providing dual lanes for the EmX buses necessary or even desirable? Dual lanes would gobble up valuable ROW, not to mention a massive chunk of the improvement budget. Why not broaden the vision to encompass a greater set of impacts? Imagine how the entire equation might be altered by envisioning another Willamette River bridge. Such a crossing would disperse heavy vehicular traffic. An excessive number of large semi-trailers and log trucks use Franklin Boulevard today because alternative routes do not exist. 

Why do the initial notions emphasize the development of roundabouts as gateways? Otto doesn’t believe a front door should be an intersection; what it should be is a positive space or place. Why no emphases on connections to existing open spaces, such as the meandering path along the Millrace in the vicinity of Franklin and Alder Street? 

As always, Otto is on point. Fundamentally, he doesn’t want to see a renewed Franklin Boulevard realized as a generic set of solutions to a very place-specific problem. Its master plan shouldn’t be a mere assemblage of assorted ideas. The process shouldn’t be reduced to a multiple-choice exercise. The boulevard is a significant public space and deserves to be planned with purpose. Design does matter. 

Notwithstanding his cogent thoughts to the contrary, Otto considered the initial workshop to be a good start for the project. Moving forward, the City is seeking input and answers to four discussion questions to help guide and shape the corridor’s future. 

Beyond the survey input, the City envisions the following activities: 

• February – May 2019: Project Alternatives Evaluation and Screening 
• May 2019: Design Refinement Workshop #2 
• May – August 2019: Project Alternatives Design and Refinement 
• August – November 2019: Corridor Analysis and Recommendations

Ultimately, there will be a report documenting the analysis of the opportunities and constraints involved with transforming Franklin Boulevard, as well as final recommendations for how to design and implement the plan. The incorporation of public input throughout is important, and it’s especially important for local design professionals to weigh in during the process. Ideally, our voices will contribute to a design for a transformed Franklin Boulevard possessing a true sense of place, while also being pleasant, accessible, and safe for people using all modes of transportation.