Purpose <br />The primary purpose of the Arterial and Collector <br />Street Plan is to provide the City of Eugene with an <br />updated and adopted street classification map that <br />identifies the community's major streets, and with <br />appropriate street design standards and guidelines <br />to apply to construction, reconstruction and im- <br />provement of these streets. <br />The Arterial and Collector Street Plan, along with <br />the companion Local Street Plan adopted in 1996, <br />focuses on the continued development of a multi- <br />modal street system for the City of Eugene that <br />accommodates all users of the transportation. system <br />and supports compact urban growth. Together, <br />these two plans provide an essential set of tools to <br />help the city implement key aspects of the transpor- <br />tation-related policies contained in the Eugene <br />Growth Management Studer and the Eugene_ <br />Springfield Transportation System Plan (TransPlan). <br />These policies promote community livability by: <br />• maintaining and enhancing mobility for all <br />modes of surface transportation, including <br />automobiles, bicycles, pedestrians, transit <br />vehicles, emergency responders, and freight <br />vehicles; <br />• seeking to create atransportation-efficient land <br />use pattern; and <br />• achieving a better balance between all modes <br />of transportation. <br />This document deals with the city's major streets; <br />that is, those streets that function as arterials or <br />collectors. Typically, arterial and collector streets <br />carry significant amounts of traffic, much of it <br />having longer trip distances and therefore requiring <br />somewhat higher speeds and less land use access <br />than local streets. Arterials and collectors carry <br />higher volumes of traffic than local streets, and <br />require special design considerations and a high <br />degree of inter-connectivity. At the same time, <br />arterials and collectors must provide for public <br />transit, bicycle and pedestrian travel, usually at a <br />higher level than local streets. Arterials and collec- <br />tors should be designed to accommodate these <br />users, and to provide for their safety, comfort, and <br />convenience. <br />Many of the region's major streets will experience <br />considerable growth in traffic volumes over the next <br />20 years. The City's ability to expand street capacity <br />to accommodate increased traffic volumes is very <br />limited. Preserving the traffic movement and mobility <br />functions of the community's existing arterials and <br />collectors is a crucial aspect of efforts to maintain <br />community livability. The recently adopted Eugene <br />Local Street Plan recognized this and states: <br />"For an interconnected local street system to work <br />successfully...arterhaland collector stn:ets must <br />function eFFectively to collect and distribute traffic <br />throughout the community, allowing local stn:ets to be <br />used for local traffic. If collector or arterial streets arse <br />congested, drivers may cut through local neighborhood <br />streeets despite local steet designs to discourage <br />such traffic, resulting in higher traffic volumes and <br />speeds and impacting neighborhood livability." <br />Street Classification: <br />Eugene's arterial and collector streets are part of a <br />larger system of Eugene-Springfield metropolitan <br />major streets. A classification scheme for this street <br />system has been in use for a number of years to <br />comply with federal and state requirements for <br />transportation planning. In 1992, the Metropolitan <br />Policy Committee (MPC) adopted this classification <br />system for the metropolitan area. The City's adopted <br />long-range transportation plan, TransPlan, incorpo- <br />rates this system of arterial and collector streets and <br />includes a list of proposed improvements to a <br />number of those streets. Various adopted neighbor- <br />hood refinement plans also contain street classifica- <br />tion maps (some adopted, others merely descriptive) <br />for the area included in each plan. The Arterial and <br />Collector Street Plan builds upon these existing <br />plans and proposes adoption by the City Council of <br />a city-wide network of arterial and collector streets, <br />classified according to criteria which are included <br />in this document. <br />Street classification is an important and useful <br />planning tool in efforts to create a comprehensive, <br />understandable transportation system. The classifi- <br />cation of streets serves several purposes. The <br />classification map: <br />• Allows city officials to clearly communicate <br />the functional purpose of a street to the general <br />9 <br />