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Better Streets: Franklin Boulevard
How safe, practical, and attractive is Franklin Boulevard adjacent to the University of Oregon for everyone today?
- Safe: No loss of life or personal harm.
- Practical: Convenient and affordable.
- Attractive: Welcoming and enjoyable.
Take our 2-minute poll to share you views:
Gift card winners
We are keeping our poll open, even though we have no more gift cards to award. Congratulations to our previous gift card winners!
- UO Duck Store: Tamir B ($25), Nayantara A ($50), Nicolaus S ($25), Jennifer A ($50)
- Market of Choice: Zac S ($25), Steven D ($50)
Walking tours
Prefer to see Franklin Boulevard firsthand? Although we aren’t planning another walking tour any time soon, take your own tour following our suggested route:
- Friday, August 4, 11:30 am–1:30 pm: Meet at UO Transportation Services (1401 Walnut @ Franklin).
- Thursday, July 27, 9:30–11:30 am: Meet at UO Transportation Services (1401 Walnut @ Franklin).
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About Better Streets
Better Streets for People and Businesses is an effort to build support for streets that are safe, practical, and attractive for everyone; to identify which streets in Eugene and Springfield need to be better; and to develop broadly supported recommendations for moving forward.
About Franklin Boulevard
The City of Eugene is spearheading a planning process for Franklin Boulevard from Alder Street to Interstate-5, including Garden Avenue. The stated purpose is to ”recast a deteriorating former state highway into a complete urban street, converting Franklin Boulevard into a multimodal urban street, prioritizing safety for pedestrians, cyclists, and bus rapid transit (BRT) riders and promoting transit-oriented development.”
The City of Eugene explains, “Franklin Boulevard, with its wide lanes, can be an unsafe and uncomfortable street. For people who walk, bike, or ride the bus, Franklin Boulevard can be a significant barrier to getting from place to place. Because of that, fewer people choose to walk or bike to make connections between the University of Oregon, surrounding neighborhoods and Willamette River trails to the north, hindering the our long-term efforts to reach climate reduction goals. The project will also encourage new ways for businesses and neighborhoods near Franklin Boulevard to redevelop the boulevard into a more comfortable connector of places, rather than a divider.”
Project schedule (as of June 2023):
- 2019–2020: Design Concept Development
- 2020 & 2021: Grant Applications
- 2020–2023: Design Concept Refinement
- 2023: Corridor Analysis and Recommendation Report
- 2023: NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act)
- 2023–2026: Coordination with Adjacent Property Owners and Businesses
- 2024–2026: Design Engineering & Finalize Project Plans
- 2026–2028: Franklin Reconstruction
In late August 2023, the City of Eugene updated, “The Franklin Blvd Transformation is headed to the engineering stage! The City has been working with the community and local stakeholders since October 2018 on a concept plan for Franklin Blvd. A concept is not an engineering design however, meaning there are still many details to be figured out over the coming years before construction begins in 2026.
“The concept plan was created to develop the overall layout for the corridor in order to obtain public feedback, develop a preliminary cost estimate to acquire funding, and to proceed with environmental documentation and permitting. The planners and engineers will continue working closely with stakeholders along the corridor as the engineering designs are drafted over the next several years.”
Learn more:
- Franklin Boulevard Transformation at City of Eugene
- Franklin Boulevard Transformation at Engage Eugene, including recent open house materials
Read news:
- Letter: Fairmount Neighbors Clarifies Its Position (Karen Dunne, Co-chair, Fairmount Neighbors Board of Directors, Eugene, Eugene Weekly, 7/13/23)
- Paid Advertisement: Request to Stop Franklin Blvd Transformation (Eugene Weekly, 6/29/23)
- Trustees approve budget and building projects, elect leaders (Around the O, 6/13/23)
- UO trustees approve three capital projects (KLCC, 6/5/23)
- University of Oregon Board of Trustees to discuss Knight Campus, board leadership (Register-Guard, 6/4/23)
- Slant: We’re eager to see what the city of Eugene decides to do about putting a roundabout at the intersection of Franklin and Walnut (Eugene Weekly, 3/25/23)
- City of Eugene approves plan for more than $310 million for infrastructure projects (Daily Emerald, 3/22/23)
- Letter: Let’s Slow Franklin Down (Colin M. Hill of Eugene, Eugene Weekly, 3/9/23)
- Going Roundabout: The City of Eugene Says It Plans to Redesign Franklin Boulevard to Make It Safer and More Accessible (Eugene Weekly, 2/9/23)
- Franklin Boulevard in Eugene to see huge changes over next five years (KVAL, 2/3/23)
- Eugene seeks feedback on Franklin Blvd plan (KLCC, 1/31/23)
- Local business concerned about proposed changes to busy Eugene street (KEZI, 1/30/23)
- Eugene to hold open house on changes to Franklin Boulevard (KVAL, 1/27/23)
- Knight Campus Phase 2 has a shaky start in Eugene (KLCC, 1/24/23)
- Springfield and Eugene get $19M grant to develop Franklin Boulevard (KVAL, 11/19/22)
- $19 million grant will help transform ‘relic’ Franklin Boulevard, the link between Eugene and Springfield (Register Guard, 11/18/22, paywall)
- Another high-rise apartment building aimed at UO students to go up on Broadway (Register Guard, 3/18/22, paywall)
- What’s That … building going in on Garden Avenue behind Starbucks on Franklin? (Register Guard, 10/15/21, paywall)
- Here Comes Another Mega Student Housing Project: With Café Yumm! Broadway Moving and a 12-Story Student Housing Building Coming, Franklin Boulevard Is Bustling With Development (Eugene Weekly, 9/24/20)
- Board approves next steps in Romania property redevelopment (Around the O, 6/4/20)
- Woman, 20, hit by pickup near UO dies from injuries (KVAL, 12/31/19)
- Pickup hits two people near UO; woman suffers life-threatening injuries (KVAL, 12/24/19)
- Two pedestrians injured in Franklin Boulevard crash (Register-Guard, 12/23/19, paywall)
- Vehicle collides with two pedestrians in Eugene (KVAL, 12/23/19)
- Sky bridge over Franklin Boulevard will be a new sight for returning UO students (KVAL, 9/12/19)
- City of Eugene weighs changes to busy Franklin Boulevard (KVAL, 1/28/19)
- Activist Alert: Franklin Boulevard Design Workshop (Eugene Weekly, 1/24/19)
- City seeks comments on planned Franklin Boulevard makeover (Around the O, 1/10/19)
- Proposal for old Romania property in Eugene includes work ‘in excess of $100,000,000’ (KVAL, 1/9/19)
- Planning for Franklin project to begin (Register-Guard, 1/9/19, paywall)
- Major changes proposed for historic UO site (Register-Guard, 1/3/19, paywall)
- Developer shares possible vision for former Romania property (Around the O, 1/2/19)
- City of Eugene eyes 2022 for construction plans on Franklin Blvd. (KVAL, 12/28/18)
- UO Planning to Expand Toward River: Controversy Dogs the Early Stages of the Permitting Process for the North Campus Project (Eugene Weekly, 1/18/18)
- Eugene’s Joe Romania Building to see changes (KVAL, 7/17/17)
- UO officials meet with DeFazio to discuss Franklin Boulevard plan (Around the O, 4/13/15)