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GREAT STREETS <br />t <br />Great Streets connect special places with safe, <br />convenient and interesting routes. They are <br />pedestrian-oriented in design and appearance, with <br />retail and other active ground floor uses. They <br />accommodate bicycles, slow-moving automobile <br />traffic, on-street parking and emergency vehicles. <br />Great Streets are places people choose to walk along <br />and return to. <br />The concept of Great <br />Streets was one of the <br />most strongly supported <br />ideas in the Visivn for <br />Greater Downtown Eugene <br />as a way to characterize <br />downtown and focus <br />public attention and <br />funding. These Great <br />Streets will be the basis <br />of a walkable downtown <br />network that encourages <br />pedestrians and retail <br />activity. <br />Looking north on Willamette Street, the original "Great Street" of <br />Eugene. <br />Historically, Broadway <br />and Willamette were the important commercial <br />streets downtown. Both 5th and 8th Avenues were <br />key streets, one for market activities and one for civic <br />uses. Part of what makes these streets great is their <br />connection to places that are important in the <br />history of our community, reinforced by building <br />design and the location of public art. All four <br />of these streets need to be designed as urban open <br />space, to transcend the function of moving traffic <br />and flourish as pedestrian routes and destinations. <br />A public improvement strategy will be created to <br />reinforce the special character of each Great Street. <br />Improvements will include elements such as special <br />paving, street trees, and street furniture. Design <br />guidelines are already in place for buildings that <br />front Broadway between Oak and Charnelton. <br />Similar guidelines should be extended to all the <br />Great Streets to promote high quality, pedestrian <br />orientated design. Commercial signs or signs for <br />information, direction, or public safety need to be <br />well designed and placed along these streets to add <br />to the sense of purpose and activity but not increase <br />the visual clutter. <br />:, ~ . - <br />Well designed storefronts <br />enhance pedestrian places, <br />such as along 8th Avenue. <br />EUGENE DOWNTOWN PLAN APRIL 2004 <br />Willamette Street <br />Willamette Street is the historic main street of <br />Eugene. Although the historic buildings clustered <br />at Broadway and Willamette are gone, the street <br />remains the significant commercial street in <br />downtown. Several blocks along Willamette <br />have been improved with the removal of the <br />pedestrian mall, but a <br />unifying concept for <br />the portion of this street <br />between 5th and 13th <br />Avenues still needs to <br />be developed and <br />implemented. <br />Willamette Street opens <br />onto the plaza at <br />Broadway and Willa- <br />mette and the Hult <br />Center Plaza. The <br />City should consider <br />changes to the Hult <br />Center Plaza to <br />enhance the visual <br />connection between <br />Skinner Butte and Spencer Butte, and if possible, <br />allow access for transit and emergency vehicles. <br />The north end of Willamette Street terminates at <br />the train depot. A pedestrian connection across the <br />railroad tracks to Skinner Butte Park has been de- <br />sired for many years and should be vigorously pur- <br />sued. <br /><: <br />15 <br />