City/County Road Partnership & Proposed County Capital Project Partnership

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February 28, 2001 Lane County Roads Advisory Committee c/o Lane County Public .Works 3040 North Delta Highway Eugene, Oregon 97401. Dear Members of the Roads Advisory Committee: Public Works Administration City of Eugene 858 Pearl Street Eugene, Oregon 97401 (541) 682-5523 .(541) $82-6826 FAX I am writing to urge you to continue and strengthen the County/City Road Partnership Agreement as a vital, ongoing element of Lane County's `02/'06 Capital Improvement Program. Over the course of many years, the citizens in our region have made a tremendous investment in a system of roads that meets a wide variety of needs. Eugene alone has more than 425 centerline miles of improved streets, including approximately 82.5 miles of regional or transferred roadways that Eugene is responsible for operating, maintaining, and preserving. All the citizens of Lane County use these roadways for employment, shipping, shopping, recreation, and access to regional facilities such as the Airport and federal, state and county offices. Using a conservative estimate of $15,000 per centerline mile for O&M, the cost for Eugene to operate and maintain just the regional and transferred roadways comes to approximately $1.25 million a year. Additionally, to preserve its system of improved streets, including regional and transferred roadways, Eugene needs to spend mote than $3 million a year in rehabilitation and reconstruction projects. And that doesn't include addressing a backlog of $53 million in needed preservation projects on city streets. Lane County understands the importance of timely preservation work (as evidenced by the allocation of $2.3 million a year in the Lane County CIP for overlays and rehabilitation): it's four to five times more cost-effective to keep a roadway in good condition than to reconstruct a road that has not been able to be properly maintained. Eugene is not asking Lane County to solve all of its transportation funding needs. We are asking Lane County to continue to be a partner in keeping the regional road system in good shape. Specific road-funded projects completed by the City of Eugene in recent years include capital work on Coburg Road, West 11`'' Avenue, Chambers Street, Valley River Way, Division Street, 13"' Avenue, and Amazon Parkway. In fact, in the past four years (FY97-FY00), Eugene has spent almost $9 million operating, maintaining, and preserving the regional road network and has received a total of approximately $7.5 million through the County/City Road Partnership Agreement. Clearly, we are doing our part, and more, in the partnership, and we want to thank you for the financial support you have provided. (More)