FTA: 'No significant environmental impact' if EmX line expands
EUGENE, Ore. -- The Federal Transit Administration announced Friday that they found no environmental setbacks within the proposed Emx expansion planned for W 11th Avenue.
After a key 7-1 approval vote from the Eugene City Council in September, the proposed West Eugene EmX Extension went to the federal government for approval.
The FTA reviewed the plan and issued a 'Finding of No Significant Impact', which completed the project's environmental planning and review process.
Lane transit officials said that the next step is project development. They said that they plan on having a final design ready in the next 18 to 24 months.
Andy Vobora, Marketing executive with Lane Transit District, said that construction is anticipated to begin in 2015, with a completion date as soon as January of 2017.
Vobora said that the $95 million project won't cause a tax increase for Eugene residents, as it relies on a large grant from the Federal Transit Administration as well as $20 million from state issued bonds.
This is ridiculous because it will have a significant impact on people who could go out of business due to the building of the Emx
we have the dumbest public transit I've ever seen. The EmX is a dumb idea because no one wants it, few people will use it (except perhaps those who use it as their home as they ride around the city) and it's an expense that doesn't make sense. The "hub" or "spoke" concept is idiotic, why not revisit the routes and make them so you do not have to go through downtown eugene to get from river road to riverbend. Just plain silly.
Go tell Andy that a running-back (LTD) is running right past him!Â
A federal judge will determine how corrupt LTD has become, in their quest for self-preservation. This is not about transit, it about self interest, at the public expense; especially the businesses.
I't doesen't matter how you vote anymore it's obvious that everything is rigged now days .
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There might not be any significant environmental problems with EmX, but there sure are a lot of human ones!
Over and over, both the businesses and residents in the area, and people having to commute to and from Eugene via W 11th have STATED EMPHATICALLY that they DO NOT WANT THIS BUS!!! I guess it is just another matter of power hungry politicians TELLING is what we want or what is âgood for usâ. I guess we are just too stupid to know what we need or want.....
Well, I have followed my own advice and didnât vote for ANY of the same old faces who canât seem to get it into their power hungry heads that NO MEANS NO!!!!!!
If we keep sitting back and letting things like this happen if we are against it, then we will end up with nowhere to complain when they âcome for youâ.
Radical? Maybe, but we are slowly being cooked to death like that frog in the frying pan, and we need to WAKE UP before it is too late, if it isnât already.Â
 @angelgabe It was a hot topic during the elections and yet the "same old faces" won. Politicians only win by doing what the majority of the electorate wants, and apparently the WEE is what the majority wants.
 @forward LOL. You obviously haven't been paying attention to politics for very long if you think "politicians only win by doing what the majority of the electorate wants."
@forward @angelgabe You are wrong! The "majority" does not support the project. If this silly thing is build, NObody will be happy, including transit riders, except for the LTD administrative staff and their high paid consultants.