Plans to build a four-lane expressway through west Eugene still have the green light, despite a growing number of environmental roadblocks, a city highway engineer said Friday.

The proposed West Eugene Parkway travels across wetland areas that have been singled out for long-term protection. Two endangered plants grow in the area. And a turtle that has become a candidate for the endangered species list has been found in ponds along the route.

"The problems are difficult but not insurmountable," said Paul Klope, the principal engineer on the proposed West Eugene Parkway. "I believe we'll be able to work toward a solution."

But a Corvallis biologist said he is worried that the highway will threaten a small community of western pond turtles, a small reptile that is being studied by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for possible federal protection.

"There are a bunch of problems with (the parkway), not the least of which is turtles," said Dan Holland, who heads the Western Aquatic Turtle Research Consortium. Holland was part of a group of scientists that petitioned the government to protect western pond turtles.

"There are relatively few turtles in the area, but protection of that community is going to be of absolutely vital importance" because the breed is becoming so rare, he said.

A highway through the area increases the chances of turtles being killed, either during the construction process or under the wheels of a car when it's finished.

The population of pond turtles is declining because too few young turtles are surviving to adulthood, Holland said. Even if plans are made to create new wetlands elsewhere to "mitigate" for damage done by the highway, no one knows whether the new habitat will be suitable for young turtles, he said.

"If you can't replace it, don't break it," he said.

Local environmentalists say they plan to mount a campaign to stop the $36 million project because of the damage it will do to wetlands and turtles.

"Its a road to nowhere," said Charlie Ogle, who chairs the Many Rivers Group, a local Sierra Club affiliate. Ogle questioned the need for and the cost of the 5.5-mile parkway.

"It's just a short leg that dumps you on West 11th (Avenue)," he said. "But it goes right through the heart of the west Eugene wetlands."

A number of local environmental organizations will challenge the city's request for a federal permit to build the road through wetlands areas, said Dan Stotter, a Eugene lawyer and member of the local Sierra Club executive committee. The city plans to submit its request to the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers next month.

Stotter also wants a public hearing on the parkway because transportation ideas have changed since it was first proposed. On Monday, city officials will meet in Salem with state highway officials, environmentalists, Holland and others to discuss the issue of pond turtles on the highway route.

The parkway would link Highway 99 with Highway 126 a few miles west of the city limits. Plans call for a limited-access road with only a handful of grade-level intersections to slow traffic, Klope said.

Although Eugene is sharing the cost of planning and designing the new road, the state would pay all construction costs, Klope said. Construction of the parkway has been scheduled to begin next year.

The new road would serve several purposes, Klope said, It would alleviate congestion on West 11th, which wasn't built to handle its current traffic volume; it would provide a quicker route for people traveling from Eugene to the coast; and it would improve access to west Eugene from downtown.

The route cuts across a swath of undeveloped land between West 11th Avenue and the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks. Large chunks of the area have been designated by the city as sensitive wetlands requiring long-term protection.

Building a road through the area would "fragment" the wetlands and thus lessen their ecological value, Ogle said. Wetlands help the environment by providing homes to plants and wildlife, by filtering pollutants from the water, and by absorbing excess rainfall that might otherwise cause flooding.

Steve Gordon, a wetlands specialist with the Lane Council of Governments, acknowledged that the highway would go right through the middle of prime wetland areas. But the area already has been broken up by the railroad tracks, he said.

"Our position is that a lot of planning had gone into the parkway, and it has been approved by the citizens of Eugene," Gordon said. Therefore, he sees no reason whit it should not go forward.

"But if the facility is going to be built, we want it to be built in the most sensitive way possible," he said.

Klope said the city has been aware of the wetland issue since it began planning the new highway. Planners have taken great pains to reduce the road's impact on wetlands and proposals will made to build new wetlands to replace those filled by the highway.

The route also was chosen to avoid contact with endangered plants, such as desert parsley (Bradshaw's lomatium) and the Willamette daisy (aster Curtis), which was added to the endangered species list last December.