What the public thinks of Franklin Boulevard today

Delighted with planned changes to Franklin Boulevard – they will make it much safer and quieter for our neighborhood and invite walking and biking. They will speed up EmX service.

The biggest problem I see with Franklin boulevard is noise, safety, walkability, and bicycle transportation. The only reasonable modes of travel on Franklin are bus or car. Even driving in a car you still have to look at a very ugly, noisy, and unsafe street. Improving walkability, and biking access is the first step to improving the street. Adding trees, moving businesses up to the sidewalk and widening sidewalks creates a safer, prettier, and more inspiring walking environment.

Even driving on Franklin is unpleasant and chaotic. Outside of a vehicle, any of the myriad passing cars could turn into a business at 45 mph without looking and kill me. It is a loud, stressful place to be a pedestrian, and I avoid spending time near it.

I’m supportive of the changes proposed for Franklin. I live 4 blocks from Franklin and there is incessant traffic noise. It’s a ‘track meet’ when I’m not driving on it, and it’s ‘too annoying with all the lights’ when I am driving on it. Classic George Carlin bit, but true for me. I think the changes will slow down speeds, yet maintain steady throughput. I want all of our city streets to be narrow and treed. Frankly, I want all cars to go away as soon as possible.

So much opportunity for safety and access improvements, which would make the road more enjoyable for all users, including cars and busses. In the current configuration, Franklin is loud, fast, and unpleasant for those not in a car. When I drive it, it’s unpleasant because I worry that I can’t see pedestrians or cyclists. I would prefer if the driving surface were fewer lanes, there was dedicated infrastructure for peds and cyclists, and clearly marked crosswalks with responsive lights.

Don’t change it. I’m a resident that lives just off of Franklin Blvd and I don’t want to hear construction or have to face difficulty getting home or accessing business that are close by.

It does a pretty good job of isolating car traffic to/from I-5 and Springfield and Eugene attractions (downtown, the UofO). That leaves the adjacent neighborhood streets relatively free of traffic for the enjoyment of walkers, cyclists, scooters and skateboards. The new high rise buildings along Franklin seem to provide a noise buffer to surrounding areas.

I live on Sylvan and walk/ride along Franklin almost daily. The speed of vehicles as they leave eug to enter southbound i5/enter Springfield is alarming. The lack of bike lanes in both directions on Franklin is challenging for our commute. The lack of lighting near the eastern end approaching Sylvan is difficult at night. We often walk the much longer route up through Hendricks park to avoid the speeding vehicles and loud noise along Franklin between Sylvan and walnut.

Some of the turning lanes on Franklin are confusing, even as someone who is familiar with the area. I accidentally turned into the wrong lane from Franklin onto Villard the other day (luckily other drivers saw me error and gave me room to correct it!) I don’t love having to turn left/make U turns to access business on either side. I appreciate that the EMX runs along Franklin, when I have taken it before (I did moreso in the past when I lived near a place that was on the route) I found it convenient for accessing the UO and Downtown. As a pedestrian, Franklin just feels exhausting to me–loud and full of traffic and I feel like I have to be extra vigilant at crosswalks because of all the different turn lanes/vehicles/etc.

Franklin is currently a terrible road. It’s unpleasant, loud and dangerous. It prioritizes cars at the expense of people and even motorist suffer because of its high speeds and dangerous driving.

We have biked from Agate to downtown Springfield on Franklin. Not safe, noisy

Franklin is currently one of the most unfriendly & unsafe streets in Eugene in terms of pedestrian, biking or using businesses. And this is an area where there is a significant number of students walking and biking. I currently choose not to utilize businesses in this area because of the noise & lack of accessibility. Improvements would increase my interest in utilizing businesses in this part of town. Additionally it is important that access by pedestrians & alternative forms of transportation be improved, that the speed of traffic be reduced, access to transportation systems be improved upon. I believe the both the public process around re-development on Franklin and the recommendations/ outcomes are good ones. I’m also concerned that delays will result in the loss of federal funding.

Franklin boulevard does not feel safe crossing as a pedestrian, the width of the street combined with the time allotted for crossing and cars waiting to turn through cross walks. The road is very load, when waiting to cross the street having a conversation is difficult. Cars travel too fast and run the red light at Onyx frequently. Traveling west on franklin as a biker or pedestrian is challenging because the sidewalk width narrows at several locations which doesn’t accommodate both modes of transit.

Never feels safe. walkway too close to busy, loud and fast cars. cars speed and one even ran a red light, in front of people crossing the street. takes forever to cross the street. so loud.

I’ll be living on Franklin and really am worried about the noise and safety, so those are what I am most concerned about. It always seems so dangerous with everything moving so fast so close to the sidewalks, and I really don’t trust the barely-existent bike lanes. The EmX is creepy, too, so I don’t take it a lot.

It is extremely noisy for people walking or rolling and difficult to navigate. Not all the sidewalks connect and pedestrian signals are long. The bike infrastructure here is terrible. I often see people biking on the sidewalks which’s rent big enough. And I avoid Franklin at all costs when I’m on my bike. For such a heavy foot traffic area this needs a huge upgrade. Also cars do not always stop for pedestrians.

Biking and walking is extremely inconvenient in this area and it is loud and super ugly with unsafe high speeds and very large intersections and ped crossings

Bike lanes MUST be protected (and hopefully, two way) in order to encourage students to bike and discourage car use. The traffic noise also interrupts the daily life of students.