Environmental Assessment of the Emerald Express Gateway Corridor
Loading...
Date
2019
Authors
Theofield, RJ
Yang, Yizhao
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
The Emerald Express (EmX) Gateway Corridor is a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line developed and operated by Lane Transit District (LTD) that connects main centers in the cities of Eugene and Springfield.
BRT is a high-quality bus-based transit system that delivers fast, comfortable, and cost-effective services. BRT achieves this through the provision of dedicated lanes, off-board fare collection, and more frequent service. LTD’s EmX is one of only a few BRT lines currently available in the United States (Lane Transit District, 2019). In 2011, LTD expanded EmX service by developing and constructing the EmX Gateway line. The EmX Gateway line provides daytime service between Springfield Station, Gateway Station, and Sacred Heart Station.
Nearly a decade later, the EmX Gateway Corridor experiences the lowest ridership of LTD’s three EmX system lines. To better understand why, LTD partnered with the University of Oregon’s Sustainable Cities Institute to reexamine the corridor and conduct a multi-scale environmental study. To develop this report, undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in the University of Oregon’s Advanced Geographic Information Systems course collaborated with LTD staff to provide a summary of neighborhood characteristics, accessibility and connectivity, and land use mix for neighborhoods along the EmX Gateway Corridor. Throughout the research, a mix of data collection and analysis methods were used. ArcGIS’s ArcMap software was used extensively to create the maps found within this report and perform spatial analyses. Data for this report were provided by the Lane Council of Governments, collected from the American Community Survey (ACS), or collected by students using the survey instrument Survey123. Students collected these survey data at each station, its walkshed, and connecting street segments on May 17, 2019.
Overall, this report finds the EmX Gateway Corridor suffers not from issues of inadequate facilities or amenities, but from incompatible land uses nearby and the absence of a well-connected transportation system. In response to this finding, we recommend LTD consider the following actions outlined in Table X, which are organized by neighborhood, accessibility and connectivity, and land use mix. Specific recommendations for each station can be found later in the report in the Stations and Vicinity section.
Description
96 pages