LTD W Eugene EmX Ext Project. Amazon Alignment Alternative

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• Lane Transit District P.O. Box 7070 Eugene, OR 97401 -0470 January 14, 2008 (541) 682 -6100 (voice) Eric Bluhm, Project Manager (541) 682-6111 (fax) U.S., /tiny Corps of Engineers, Portland District (800) 735 -2900 (TTY) P.O. Box 2946 Portland, Oregon 97208 -2946 Itd@ltd.org (e -mail) www.ltd.org (Internet) Dear Mr. Bluhm: On December 13, 2007, 1, and members of Lane Transit District's (LTD's) consultant team, met with Jeff Krueger from Lane Council of Governments (LCOG) for a briefing that concerned the forthcoming Eugene - Springfield Metropolitan Waterways Study — Integrated Feasibility Report and Environmental Assessment: Amazon Creek and Cedar Creek Waterway Enhancement Project (EA). The purpose of this letter is to respond to that briefing by requesting that the Enhancement Project EA acknowledge and address LTD's West Eugene EmX Extension (WEEE) Project and related Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which include a proposed bus rapid transit alignment adjacent to Amazon Creek within what your project terms "Reach 5 ". To supply a brief background, LTD and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) issued a Notice of Intent to prepare an EIS for the WEEE Project on September 18, 2007, thereby initiating the project's Scoping phase. Shortly thereafter, LTD issued proposed alignments that would extend EmX facilities and service from the existing Eugene Station west to serve the West 11 Corridor (or travel shed). LTD received public and agency comment on the proposed alignments, and is now working with its Board of Directors and the FTA on finalizing the alternatives in order to advance into the EIS, scheduled for completion by late March 2008. As noted previously, one of the proposed alignments (which likely is to be approved by the LTD Board of Directors and FTA to advance into the EIS) is a bus rapid transit alignment that would extend from approximately 13 Avenue and Garfield Street west along the Amazon Channel to approximately Bertelsen Road (either north and/or south of the channel — see attached map). The costs, benefits, and environmental impacts of the Amazon Creek and several other alignment alternatives will be studied further in the project's EIS, which will be used to select the project's Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) in order to advance into the FTA's project development process. A LPA is scheduled for adoption by LTD, the City of Eugene, and the Metropolitan Policy Committee in the spring of 2009.