24th Avenue Bike Lanes Project

Project Overview

The City of Eugene is exploring the feasibility of adding protected bike lanes to 24th Avenue from Amazon Path to Agate Street (area outlined in orange on the map below). 24th Avenue between Amazon Path and Agate Street currently has a mix of substandard, door-zone bike lanes and buffered bike lanes.

Protected bike lanes add more space and physical protection between people biking and people driving as compared to standard bike lanes and buffered bike lanes. See examples of bicycle infrastructure below. Adding protected bike lanes to 24th Avenue would require removing on-street parking between Hilyard Street and Agate Street (approximately 73 spaces). Parking counts show that side streets have enough available space to accommodate on-street parking demand from 24th Avenue. Please review the parking report for in-depth information about the parking counts.

The City will repave 24th Avenue from Harris Street to Agate Street in spring/summer 2025. The repaving, in combination with a potential Oregon Department of Transportation grant, means the City may have the opportunity to change the current layout of 24th Avenue between Amazon Path and Agate Street. Current and proposed layouts are shown below.

The City is also exploring alternatives to bollards for adding protection to the bike lanes, like Zicla Zebras or a similar curb-like element. Additionally, the City is considering removing on-street parking and buffering the bike lanes, but not adding protection. Lastly, the City could decide to restripe the street as is, maintaining on-street parking and the substandard, door-zone bike lanes.

Reasons for the Proposed Change

24th Avenue is a primary biking route for three schools: Edison Elementary, Roosevelt Middle, and South Eugene High. It is also near the University of Oregon, the YMCA, and connects to the Amazon Path. The number and type of destinations along the street, speed and volume of vehicles that use 24th Avenue, and history of bike crashes along 24th Avenue make the street an important candidate for protected bike lanes. The 2023 death of a University of Oregon student walking on 24^th Avenue after being hit by a driver further underscores the safety challenges along the street.

In an effort to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars, the City wants to align the upcoming paving project with the future vision for 24th Avenue. The City also applied for a grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation to add bollard protected bike lanes to 24th Avenue between Amazon Path and Agate Street. The grant has not yet been awarded. The combination of the repaving project and pending grant creates a unique opportunity to improve safety and comfort on 24th Avenue.

Community Engagement

Final decisions about 24th Avenue are expected to be made in early spring 2025. Staff have actively engaged residents, businesses owners, and the broader community about the project. A survey ran for about two months and closed on December 20th with 1,030 responses. Staff also hosted a Community Meeting where 70 community members were able to discuss the project. Many questions were raised during the Community Meeting, so staff have put together a Question and Answer document that responds to questions heard during the meeting. Please take the time to review the document. If you have additional questions or comments, please reach out to Catherine Rohan, Transportation Planner, at crohan@eugene-or.gov.

A Community Engagement Report is available that outlines everything transportation staff heard during the community engagement process.

The decision to add protected bike lanes and remove parking on 24th Avenue will be made based on community input, available data, and alignment with City standards and goals. 

Timeline

• Fall 2024 – Project Kick-off
• October 2024 - January 2025 - Community engagement and internal staff discussion to determine striping plan for 24th Avenue during the repaving project.
• February 2025 – Staff review community engagement results, including feedback from LTD, waste haulers, City of Eugene maintenance teams, Fire and Emergency Services, businesses, residents, property owners and more.
• March 2025 – City staff publish the community engagement report and City leadership make a decision about the project.
• April 2025 – Community meeting to share final plans.
• Summer 2025 – 24th Avenue between Harris and Agate gets repaved.
• Future, TBD – Installation of protected bike lanes. Dependent on final design decisions.

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