I just got back from Eugene, Oregon, and was a little dismayed to see that my options were to pay $21.50 for the OmniShuttle, or around $25-$28 before tip for a taxi. Inexplicably, even though Eugene has so-so public transit service, they haven't bothered to run a route to the airport, which is about ten miles west/northwest of downtown. So I set out to walk from the airport to the nearest bus route.
Your bus route choices are: closer to the airport, but an express route with limited frequency (LTD Route 95) and farther from the airport, but half-hourly service on weekdays (LTD Route 52.) The Route 95 is basically a rush hour-only express service, and doesn't run on Sundays, so I decided to ignore it. That said, if the times work for you, it'll cut off about half of the 3.5 mile walk.
HOW TO WALK FROM THE EUGENE, OREGON AIRPORT TO PUBLIC TRANSIT
Note that just like JFK, I'm providing step by step directions, with visual cues, to make this a little less nerveracking. Trust me: walking along a busy semi-rural road and avoiding the unrestrained dogs can be enough to worry about. If you don't need all the detail, just click on this map link, and get walking!
Okay: arriving at the airport, walk out of the terminal, and you'll be standing at the pickup/dropoff area on the sidewalk, looking east at the parking lot. Turn right/south, and walk along the sidewalk.
The sidewalk and road to exit the airport (with signs indicating "to Eugene" or the like) will curve left, follow along this. You'll be walking on grass. Ignore the guy on the big riding mower giving you stinkeye for walking on his freshly mowed grass. Intermittent sidewalks here on the south side of the street, google maps thinks this is Douglas Drive, heading southeast.
After about 1/3 of a mile, you'll merge onto what google maps thinks is Green Hill Road, but which wasn't clearly signed this way (I think this relates to relatively recent road construction.) Cross over to the east side of the street (so you're walking against traffic.)
Walk south along this road for about 1000 feet. You'll pass Old Airport Road, with signs to the Oregon Air and Space Museum (and "dead end" noted) on the west. The road will curve around to your left/east, and you'll see a fairly busy "T" intersection on the other side of the road.
Now walk along Airport Road for about a half mile, it'll curve northeast, and continue going east. IMPORTANT NOTE: on the image above, right after you come out of the curve and are again heading due east on Airport Road, look for the arrow cursor. On the north side of the road, at this arrow, there is a junkyard with a sign saying "KEEP OUT" and an aggressive dog not on a leash or runner. It charged me, I turned and screamed at it to back off, and it it ran away just as fast as it had come. You might prefer to briefly walk along the south side of the road here.
Turn left on W. Enid Road. You'll be walking by various light to medium industrial, metal fabricators, a self-storage area, and some blackberry-vine-covered undeveloped land. Turn right when the road does, it now becomes E. Enid Road. After about 300 feet, you'll reach Pacific Highway/Route 99, the most dangerous road crossing of the walk. Cross carefully! After you cross, you'll immediately walk over some railroad tracks, where a southeast-bound train could take you right into the west side of central Eugene. Use your imagination and common sense.
You'll now walk along E. Enid, past lumberyards and more light to medium industrial, and Brasher's Northwest Auto Auction on the north side of the road.
You'll "T" into Prairie Road, cross over and walk briefly south, taking the first left to walk east on Irvington Drive. This road crossing is also busy, but has a signalled crosswalk. You'll walk over more railroad tracks, but on these a southeast train would likely drop you right into the busy Eugene Yards, so use good judgment.
Walk along Irvington Drive for a little over a half mile, and look for Arrowhead City Park on the right: this is at the corner of Arrowhead Street. Turn right, and you'll immediately see your bus stop sign, with Route 52 on it.
Take the Route 52 south to downtown, $1.50 one-way, $3.00 day pass (which is their annoying equivalent of a transfer.) You can either go to Eugene Station, the main bus terminal, or for a fun beer detour, get off the bus at Blair Blvd and W. 4th Avenue, and walk north up Van Buren Street to Ninkasi Brewing Company's gorgeous new tasting room at 272 Van Buren, open 11-7 daily.
Total saved before drinking your savings up at Ninkasi (which, incidentally, is named after the Sumerian Goddess of Beer): approximately $20-$25. Yay!
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