Chapter Five
The Junction City Transportation System Plan (TSP) describes a strategy to develop the City’s transportation system to meet the needs of the community for 20 years (through 2015). The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) studied information on the system’s capacity and other issues and considered several alternative scenarios prior to choosing a strategy of Maintain and Connect. The CAC believed that this approach makes the most sense for the Junction City community.
This TSP contains four types of implementation actions used in achieving the mission of this plan. The capital improvements section lists projects and improvements. The comprehensive plan policies in the plan and ordinance revisions describe changes that will need to be made to the plan and implementing ordinances. The third strategy includes educational strategies. The last tool consists of areas of further study, such as the refinement plan that is recommended for Hwy. 99..
The city’s transportation system is currently functioning at an acceptable level of service and needs few major fixes aside from the inevitable problems of Hwy. 99 capacity and safety, for which a refinement plan is recommended. A strategy of maintaining the existing roads, connecting those in areas of poor connectivity and identifying key road locations in developing areas, and supporting alternative modes was chosen by the CAC because it is overall the strategy that best meets the needs of the community. It is also the most likely to be supported by the community.
The plan will be carried out through a system of plan policies and implementing ordinances. The capital improvement projects (CIP) list and financial plan also set a path that will improve and build facilities as they are needed by the community. Projects and plans that support and encourage the use of alternative modes of transportation, such as public transit, walking to destinations, and bicycle travel, will offer people viable opportunities to make trips that don’t require the use of their automobile.
There are three major components to the Maintain and Connect strategy, as described below.
Maintenance of the System. Streets, sidewalks, bike paths and other transportation facilities are expensive and time consuming to construct. Maintenance of facilities is an essential component of Junction City’s strategy. As can be seen in the financial plan, most of the capital outlays during the planning period will be for maintenance of the existing system.
Increase the Connectivity of the System. Streets that frequently connect with other streets have several benefits to the user. They offer many opportunities to choose alternate paths to a location, which disperses traffic among the streets instead of funneling the traffic to one street that then becomes congested. Street systems of high connectivity also make it more convenient for the community to bike or walk to their destinations. In some areas that have been developed using a cul-de-sac system of land division it is inconvenient for residents to get from one side of their block to the other. Low connectivity systems discourage alternative modes and increase the dependency on the automobile.
The area between Junction City’s city limits and the UGB has developed in patterns that make connectivity difficult. When land is partitioned haphazardly into smaller and smaller lots opportunities to connect streets, sidewalks and bike facilities are often lost. The City’s challenge will be to consistently require rights-of-way that can be used to improve connectivity in the future and scrutinize right-of-way vacation requests to see if the requested vacation could be used to help connect streets, bike and pedestrian systems. Pedestrian and bicycle paths can also be used in such areas to make it easier for people to use these modes for errands and trips.
Encourage Alternative Modes of Travel. This strategy is supported by maintaining the system, increasing the connectivity of the system, and through education/public information. As part of this planning process the CAC and staff developed a bike plan and pedestrian plan and began conversations with Lane Transit District (LTD) staff to improve the viability of the public transit system, particularly with respect to routing and scheduling. All of these efforts support and enrich the overall strategy of the Junction City TSP.
The financing plan sets out improvements to the Junction City streets, sidewalks and bike facilities and estimates their scheduling and cost. Projects are identified as to whether they are the responsibility of the City or another party, such as a developer, Lane County, etc. One glaring omission is that Hwy. 99 improvements are not addressed, as it is unknown at this time what improvements might be needed or what those improvements might cost. To address this issue this TSP contains a recommendation that a refinement plan be done with close cooperation between the community and ODOT.
For purposes of scheduling, improvements are listed as short-term (2000-2001), medium term (2002-2007), or long term (2008 and beyond).
The City’s revenue is projected as follows:
Street Improvement Revenue
1998-99
State Tax Street Revenue $190,201
Lane County Road Fund 96,275
Burlington Northern Franchise 40,772
Total $327,248
In addition, there is a small amount of Systems Development Charge money available that is dependent upon the amount of development each year which has not been included in the above figures.
Following shows how these revenue funds have been increasing or decreasing over the recent past.
Source FY 94/95 FY 95/96 FY 96/97 FY 97/98
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State Tax Street Revenue 173,612 181,464 184,557 191,141
Lane County Road Fund 132,104 132,104 132,920 132,129
Burlington Northern Franchise 65,400 0 36,325 36,325
371,116 313,568 353,802 359,595
If we use an average amount of $360,000/year with no increase we come up with a total of $7.2 million available for transportation improvements over the planning period.
The table below shows estimated cost amounts for the short, medium and long term street projects.
Responsible party Short Term Medium Term Long Term Totals
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
City - Construction 312,000 1,247,200 365,420 1,924,620
Overlay 138,125 203,171 0 341,296
Others 0 598,400 1,006,000 1,604,400
Totals 450,125 2,048,771 1,371,420 3,870,316
Short Term Projects will require $450,125, which appears to leave a balance ($720,000 - $450,125 = 269,875). The balance will help finance the medium and long-term projects.
Medium Term Projects. The period 2002-2007 is a five year term projected to bring $1,800,000 to pay for $1,450,371 in city projects.
Long Term Projects. The period 2008-2015 is an eight year period projected to bring $2,880,000 in revenue. Only $365,420 in city projects have been scheduled.
It should be noted that these are capital improvement projects for which the city is financially responsible. Most Lane County Urbanization projects are not included in this analysis.
Bike/Pedestrian
System
The most expensive project in this category is the improvement of the downtown area between 8th and 4th Avenues from Ivy to Front Streets (city cost $750,000). This project is listed as Project #1 on the medium-term street and sidewalk projects list and is accounted for in the financing plan for streets.
At this time (fall, 1999) the City has approximately $40,000 in its Bicycle Reserve Fund. Annual revenues to that fund are expected to increase by about $1,800 per year. Costs for the projects listed in this plan and shown on Map 14 total $54,500. Thus, some projects will need to be deferred, paid for with grants, or funded from another source. A source of funding that needs to be explored is the State Highway Division's Bicycle Grant program.
Transit
Projects
This
plan includes $10,000 in estimated costs for transit system projects. This $10,000 is listed as a long-range
expense to Lane Transit District for park and ride improvements. The expected cost is for a covered
shelter. The shelter could be located
at a city parking lot or some other lot that would be available for low or
no-cost. All other projects in this
category could be accomplished through existing staff coordinating with other
agencies or organizations.
C. Conclusion
The
above financing plan shows that the city can meet its projected transportation
system costs with projected revenues if it can obtain a few additional small
grants for its bicycle program.
However, it will take a coordinated effort and outreach to the police,
schools, other organizations and agencies.
Staff time will need to be directed/redirected to accomplish the
objectives of this plan and the completion of these projects and
activities. The city council should
designate a position in the city government responsible for coordinating this
effort to ensure its success.
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Saved: February 23, 2000