On Monday night an online meeting to explain traffic options related to removal of the Leaburg dam/bridge drew about two dozen viewers. Representatives from DOWL, an engineering and conulting firm, and Paramettrix, a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, were able to present overviews of six proposals they’ve been studying for the Eugene Water & Electric Board. But plans to gather public opinion on those proposals were stymied when both a Q&A and a Chat function for the meeting ran into SNAFU’s that froze out most of the public.
Kenton Alldritt, a project engineer with DOWL, reported that the list of six options had been pared down to four. Among them were plans to rehabilitate the existing bridge on the existing dam (Option 1), a Leaburg Dam to Leashore Drive connection (Option 3), constructing a new bridge immediately downstream of the dam (Option 5), and building a new bridge connection from Hwy. 126 to Fish Hatchery Road.
Dropped off the list was a proposal that called for replacing the existing bridge superstructure and modifying the bridge piers (Option 2) and Connecting Fish Hatchery Road to Deerhorn Road (Option 4). Aldritt said both had been dropped due to social, economic, and environmental concerns…