Students push Patterson Street redesign after deadly crashes near UO
Paterson Street is back in the spotlight after another student death, as campus groups push 20 warning signs and a redesign to slow traffic near UO.
Patterson Street is still forcing students, cyclists and neighbors to gamble with fast-moving cars at the edge of the University of Oregon, and a new campus-led push is arguing that warning signs alone are not enough. The Safe Streets Campaign, a joint effort by University of Oregon student government, the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation and LiveMove, planned to install 20 traffic awareness signs near off-campus housing and roll out a low-cost quick-build redesign that organizers said could be ready this summer if the city and campus partners move ahead.
The campaign comes four months after Erick Munene Njue, a 30-year-old UO Ph.D. student from Kenya studying special education, was killed on Jan. 25 after being struck by a car while riding his bicycle near 22nd Avenue and Patterson Street. Organizers also pointed to an earlier fatal crash involving a high school student on the same stretch, arguing that Patterson has become a repeat danger zone rather than a normal campus border street.
That urgency is showing up in city data and enforcement. Eugene Police Traffic Safety Unit officers staffed a special pedestrian safety operation at 17th and Patterson on May 6, using a decoy pedestrian in a marked crosswalk to watch how drivers behaved. The City of Eugene also has Patterson St. and E 15th Ave. listed in its 2026 Neighborhood Crossing Improvements project, one of four locations slated to get improved pedestrian facilities. City transportation materials say the work may include different crossing treatments designed to make walking safer.
The broader policy backdrop is Eugene’s Vision Zero goal to eliminate major traffic injuries and fatalities by 2035. On the city’s 20 is Plenty campaign page, officials say a person walking hit at 25 mph is twice as likely to die as someone hit at 20 mph, a reminder of why even modest speed reductions matter on a corridor where students live, bike and cross every day. Eugene officials and advocates have said the city recorded five traffic deaths in 2026 so far and 60 fatal crashes since 2022.
Marc Schlossberg, a professor of city and regional planning, has said the route has seen multiple deaths over the years, which is why supporters are pressing for a visible redesign rather than another temporary warning. A University of Oregon thesis archived in Scholars’ Bank had already described Patterson Street as built for automobile throughput and falling short for people who walk, bike or bus, a critique that now sounds less academic than urgent.
Nearby, the city is already juggling other corridor work around campus, including the 24th/Alder/Hilyard paving project, which is scheduled to run through summer 2026. For Patterson Street, the question is whether Eugene acts before the next collision makes the case for it.
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