Downtown Eugene tree removal brings lane restrictions, short delays this week

A bigleaf maple at Washington Street and West Broadway started coming down Tuesday morning, and northbound Washington Street was narrowed to one lane as crews worked through a downtown block that also closed part of West Broadway.

City crews from Parks and Open Space Urban Forestry were scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 28, and continue through Wednesday, April 29. During that work, northbound Washington Street from West Broadway Alley to West Broadway was reduced to one lane, and West Broadway between Washington and Lawrence was closed except for adjacent property owners.

The city said the tree had to go after a branch broke during high winds last winter and exposed decay inside the trunk. Officials said the removal was meant to eliminate the remaining hazard risk before the tree could fail in a more serious way. The largest pieces of the tree could force both travel lanes to close briefly as the trunk comes down, creating intermittent delays for drivers near downtown businesses, offices and homes.

The tree is an 85-foot bigleaf maple, a size that helps explain why the removal could affect traffic in short bursts rather than in one clean shut-down. For commuters crossing downtown, the practical effect is slower travel around the Washington and West Broadway corridor and a need to build in extra time while the work is underway.

The project also fits a larger city responsibility. Eugene’s Urban Forestry program manages more than 76,000 public street trees, and city code places maintenance, pruning and removal of trees in the public right-of-way on the city. Hazardous trees can be removed after a written evaluation by the urban forester, and the city describes its urban forestry staff as professional, certified arborists.

That broader system is built around more than routine maintenance. Eugene’s urban forestry planning also emphasizes resilience and emergency response, a reminder that the city treats street trees as both an asset and a potential risk when trunks decay or limbs fail. In this case, the tradeoff is plain: a brief disruption on a busy downtown block now, or a more dangerous tree left standing later.