Streets That Work » Grove Street
Streets That Work Grove Street
“I want safe walking and biking infrastructure on Grove St to connect North Eugene High School, Kelly Middle School, and Howard Elementary to the neighborhood.”
To get involved, fill out this form:
Many Years of Students and Neighbors Organizing for Grove Street
2026 – University of Oregon LiveMove Students Draft Design Alternatives for Grove Street
Empowered by success of relatively cheaply improving safety on Patterson Street, members of the UO student group LiveMove and staff advisor Marc Schlossberg identified Grove Street as another corridor that could be improved in a “quick build” style –using cheaper materials like paint and flexible bollards. These design alternatives would provide more space for walking and biking than the City’s proposal, by either repurposing the underused parking lane or making the street one driving lane.
Read the UO’s Grove Design Alternatives
2026 – City of Eugene and Lane County Apply For Funding
As a significant safety priority for 4J, the City, and County, Lane County applied for MPO (federal) funding in Febuary 2026 to repave and add a walking/biking space to Grove Street. Other projects in Lane County were selected as higher priorities, likely with the expectation that Grove Street will successfully receive state funding from ODOT’s Safe Routes to School construction grant.
Unfortunately, two months later in April of 2026 the Oregon Legislature voted to defund the Safe Routes to School Construction Grants to shore up ODOT’s budget, leaving Grove Street unfunded.
2024 – City of Eugene Proposes Active Transportation Improvements
As part of an open house about various transportation projects in River Road and Santa Clara, the City of Eugene Transportation Staff publicly referenced wanting to build a protected walking and biking space to Grove Street. Note, for the City of Eugene to make changes to Grove Street they would need to annex the street from Lane County. This would not require properties along the street to annex.
2024 – Kelly Middle School Student-Led Survey
Students in Kelly Middle School’s Student Leadership Group wanted a safer walk to school, and they decided to do something about it. With support from 4J Safe Routes to School, the middle school students created a survey and knocked on doors along Grove Street to distribute it. People driving and walking alike noted the dangerous conditions, especially when crowds of students are leaving school.
- “There is no side walk and I feel like I could get run over.”
- “Cars drive to fast and there is no protection from them”
- “Speeding cars, poor visibility, no sidewalk”
- “Too congested, too narrow, too much street parking. It has a nominal bike lane, students walk on both sides of the street.”
- “I do not feel safe trying to drive down grove when kids are trying to go to and from school. There is not adequate space to comfortably separate the kids from so much traffic at that time of day”
2023 – Safe Routes to School Parents Survey
4J Safe Routes to School surveyed parents online and at the North Eugene High School Parent Group about a potential bike/ped bridge across Beltline and Grove Street. Parents overwhelmingly supported a separated space for people walking and biking, with comments such as:
“I would feel much safer allowing my children to ride bikes and walk to North [Eugene High School] if there was a separate place to walk.”
“The current situation on Grove is not safe. Cars park on Grove making it narrow for cars and the many students using this street every day.”
“I drive down Grove St. and I am always worried about groups of kids walking because there is not room for both cars and pedestrians.”
Read more comments from all of the surveys here:
2019 – BEST River Road Safe Street Audit Report
BEST walked with AARP and neighbors along Howard, Grove and Lake, reviewing safety issues in the neighborhood. Key findings included:
- Neighbors desire for increased personal safety
- Traffic speeds on major neighborhood streets are too high
- Concern about safety for people walking, especially on routes to schools and at intersections
- The city’s leaf removal program that calls for residents to blow their leaves into the street are not in keeping with Eugene’s Bike & Pedestrian plan, which includes bike lanes as part of the street.
- Concern for safety of neighborhood children/youth walking or bicycling, and
- Concern for older residents and young parents with strollers to walk safely to the local community center and to get across streets safely
Read the full River Road Safe Streets Audit Report
See also
Related information from BEST: