Rob is correct. ODOT completed the work on the Beltline Facility Plan in 2014 that identified the alternatives for improving Beltline/Delta. The preferred alternatives were identified in early 2015. It took until this summer of 2017 for the City of Eugene to adopt the prefered alternatives into their Transportation System Plan so that ODOT could move forward with the Environmental assessments required under NEPA. The $5 million in funding for the NEPA work and some R/W acquisition has been set aside for several years waiting for the City. The project is not eligible for construction funding until the NEPA studies are completed. Something the Register-Guard does not seem to understand. Funding for the project will come in a future State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) cycle.

The Transportation Bill (HB 2017), that Lane County helped lobby for passage, basically doubled the size of funds available for future transportation improvements statewide that the STIP draws from.