While walking along the entrance to their neighborhood, Bethel residents reported feeling unsafe.
Highway 99 is a road they drive to get between home and the city center, area residents said, not one they stroll, or even consider part of their community. While they navigated the sidewalk wedged between a narrow bike lane and car-focused businesses like stations, motels, and auto shops, they described feeling exposed as cars and trucks zoomed by.
Advocacy group Better Eugene-Springfield Transportation and AARP hosted a walking tour as part of a kickoff of what BEST described as an 8-month project to collect neighborhood feedback and push for reforms to Highway 99 and River Road. The event attracted primarily Bethel residents as well as city staff and local and national transportation reform advocates…