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Substantial nighttime road work is on tap for a second expansion of Eugene‘s bus rapid transit system.

Extensive utility relocation and excavation is already under way as part of a $93 million, two-year project. The existing 15-mile EmX system is being extended to a nine-mile loop connecting downtown to West Eugene, near Beltline Road.

“It’s a fairly expensive project,” said Jim Thomas, project manager for Eugene-based Wildish Construction Co., the construction manager-general contractor for the expansion. “It has to be done in segments to deal with the public. It’s going to be really aggressive to get it done in that time.”

Most of the heavy work in the roadway will take place between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. to reduce business impacts, Thomas said.

“We will have to pick and choose what activities we can do during the day,” he said.

The first EmX route, between downtown Eugene and downtown Springfield, opened in 2007; an extension to the Gateway area opened four years later. The buses travel on dedicated lanes, and have multiple doors on both sides to access street-level boarding platforms, said Lisa VanWinkle, communications coordinator for West Eugene EmX.

“Frequency is probably the biggest piece, with services coming every 10 minutes,” she said. “It’s a much cheaper way of achieving most of the benefits, if not all the benefits, of light rail.”

Breaking the project into smaller, three- to six-block sections also will minimize the duration of impacts on local businesses, VanWinkle said.

“The design of the project is based on traffic modeling,” she said. “We will maintain capacity of the roadways as they currently are, but also add the transit vehicle. Some areas are widening, particularly near major intersections.”

Federal transit dollars are covering 80 percent of the project cost, and state lottery dollars will take care of the rest, VanWinkle said.

Road and sidewalk construction will begin this fall and last into 2016. The new line is scheduled to open by early 2017.

More information about the West Eugene EmX expansion is available at: .