Eugene ramps up sidewalk projects, plans new paths for 2026

Eugene is accelerating sidewalk work in places where a broken panel, a missing stretch or a dead-end connection can turn an ordinary trip to school, a bus stop or a park into a detour. The city said it completed 92 sidewalk repairs in 2025, including 21 lower-cost fixes through its Sidewalk Repair Pilot, while also updating 173 curb ramps and upgrading 25 traffic signals to accessible pedestrian signals.

City officials say 2025 was Eugene’s most successful year for sidewalk projects since 2020, a sign that the city is trying to move faster on both safety and access. Completed infill work included the stretch from Empire Park Drive to Highway 99, Highway 99 near the new Empire Park Drive connection to Prairie Road, Bertelsen Road between 11th and 18th avenues, and McLean Boulevard from McKendrick Street to Graham Drive. For 2026, the city plans new sidewalks on sections of Bethel Drive, Maxwell Road and Prairie Road.

The city prioritizes projects using safety, equity, proximity to pedestrian destinations such as schools, parks and bus stops, and the amount of funding available. That framework matters in neighborhoods where families, people using wheelchairs and older residents have long had to navigate uneven concrete, gaps in the sidewalk network and streets that were never fully built for walking.

Eugene says sidewalk maintenance is more complicated than many people realize because City Code 7.375 places maintenance and liability on the property owner next to the sidewalk. The city identifies vertical offsets greater than a quarter-inch, sunken or cracked panels, missing sections and crumbling surface cement as common hazards, and it says tree roots often push slabs upward and create tripping risks. That setup has produced a patchwork system, with some property owners able to pay quickly for repairs and others left with dangerous breaks in place.

To narrow that gap, the city launched the Sidewalk Repair Pilot, which bundles repairs into paving projects so property owners can get work done at a lower cost when concrete crews are already on site. Eugene says that approach is meant to address immediate accessibility problems while longer policy questions about who pays for repairs continue. The city also says residents can suggest new sidewalk locations to transportation planner Reed Dunbar.

The pressure behind the work is clear in the complaint trail. KLCC reported that Eugene logged more than 180 sidewalk complaints in 2024, with clusters downtown, on Chad Drive and in the Churchill area. City staff discussed ways to ramp up repairs at a Eugene City Council work session in June 2025, and the city has tied sidewalk widening into larger access projects like East Broadway, where road work and wider sidewalks were meant to improve walkability between downtown Eugene and the University of Oregon.