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Appendix B: Summery Description of Transportation Alternatives <br />In developing the Courthouse District Concept Plan, project staff and consultants developed and <br />evaluated numerous transportation alternatives. All of the alternatives addressed the four main urban <br />design goals, with an emphasis on creating connections between the downtown, the courthouse area <br />and the river. However, each alternative balanced these goals differently, specifically in the trade-off <br />between providing an intersection at 8t" and Mill and relocating some of the traffic currently flowing <br />through the area. <br />At the January 16, 2002 City Council Work Session, staff presented three transportation alternatives, <br />including Low Build, Fifth Street Connection (Local Street Option), and 6th/7th Realignment (the <br />"swoop"). In March, in response to the Downtown Plan Update Committee's comments, staff and <br />consultants developed a fourth alternative, 6th Avenue Realignment. In April, Jerry Diethelm, a profes- <br />sor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Oregon proposed a fifth alternative, 8th Avenue / <br />Broadway Concept. These five alternatives were evaluated against the following performance mea- <br />sures: <br />Traffic Accommodation <br />8th and Mill intersection operation <br />Corridor operation for Highway 99 travel <br />Transit <br />Accessibility <br />2. Pedestrian Environment <br />Stn and Mill crossing <br />8th Avenue pedestrian experience <br />riverfront access <br />Broadway corridor <br />3. Urban Design Issues <br />Millrace connection to river <br />urban arena accommodation <br />redevelopment potential <br />4. Cost and Feasibility <br />Available land <br />required partnerships <br />potential cost <br />Based on this evaluation, staff to the project ranked the alternatives in the following order: <br />6th Avenue Realignment <br />2. 6th /7th Realignment (Swoop) <br />3. Fifth Street Connection (Local Street Option) <br />4. 8th Avenue/Broadway Concept <br />5. Low Build Option <br />After extensive discussion, the Downtown Plan Update Committee voted to recommend the 6th <br />Avenue Realignment as the preferred alternative. A diagram and evaluation of each of these five <br />alternatives can be found in the materials presented to the Downtown Plan Update Committee on June <br />3, 2002, included as Attachment C-4 to the Agenda Item Summary for the City Council Work Session <br />on July 17, 2002. <br />Page 39 <br />