River Road Community Organization endorses MovingAhead: ‘Most neighbors’ support EmX
by Jon Belcher and Clare Strawn
The River Road Community Organization has been engaged in the MovingAhead process since 2015. LTD has hosted open houses and opportunities for input in Santa Clara and River Road, and RRCO has hosted LTD at our neighborhood meetings to discuss transit improvements and related issues.
In addition, our neighborhood planning efforts over the last five years have had us personally canvas all our businesses and mail to all our residences along the corridor to specifically engage them in “in-person” discussions about transit-oriented design and the long-term vision for our neighborhood corridor. In each of our interactions, most neighbors have been supportive of the EmX alternative. We continue to listen to our neighbors, share information, and encourage respectful discourse on all matters pertaining to our neighborhood.
Many of the action items in our draft Neighborhood Plan will best be accomplished via implementation of the River Road EmX alternative such as separated bike lanes and additional signalized pedestrian/bike crossings along with the improvement of transit options. To date, our collaborative neighborhood planning process involves our residents, our special districts, Lane County, the City of Eugene, and LTD.
Together we are working on charting a path for the future of River Road and Santa Clara that includes public transportation.
Jon Belcher and Clare Strawn are co-chairs of the River Road Community Organization.
