Bad news just arrived in a press release from Eugene Police. This from public information officer Jenna B. McCulley:
Eugene Police are on the scene investigating a fatal crash at East 8th and Hilyard Avenue between an eastbound Amtrak train and a southbound bicyclist that occurred at 5:14 p.m. Travelers are asked to avoid the area for an undetermined amount of time as officers investigate the incident. No further information is available at this time.
R-G’s Jack Moran has a short story. At the time of this post, he didn’t have much more than in the press release above, but it’s worth checking back in case they update the story. [UPDATE: 10 p.m.] R-G story updated now with more information and a witness saying the rider, coming south, crossed the tracks right in front of the train.
I have no other information on what might have happened today. This is really strange crossing, though. The way the multi-use path is configured, people sometimes cross Hilyard very close to the train tracks. But that’s on the south side of the tracks, so if the cyclist was southbound, it doesn’t seem like that would be a factor.
I’ll try to keep you posted.
Eugene Bicyclist 
I was riding upriver on the bike path at about 5:25 PM. I usually cross the tracks here, and when I saw the Amtrak train blocking the crossing, I headed for the crossing, since the Amtrak is usually short (if there’s a freight train, I keep going to the underpass at the UO). But the Amtrak train was stopped, which was unusual. Then I saw the two police SUVs and the four police officers walking around. One had a roll of red plastic tape — not a good sign.
I rolled up to one of the officers and asked her “Are you guys going to be here for a while?” She said “Yes, we’re going to be here for a while. You might want to find another way across the tracks.”
I knew something terrible had happened. This explains it.
People: Don’t cross the tracks when the gates are down. Trains can’t stop. Republicans can call physics a hoax all they want, but that doesn’t make it any less deadly.
P.S. The crossing gates at this intersection, as at most, do not extend across the sidewalk:
http://goo.gl/maps/pa7bb
That doesn’t mean you’re free to cross when the gates are down.
Wow, that really sucks.
I hate that whole area. Taking a sidewalk and calling it a bike path doesn’t work.
Everywhere else that a bike path crosses the tracks near there has a tunnel under the tracks.
I am a former resident of Eugene now living in Mountain View, CA. We have just installed 4-way crossing gates at all the crossings on the Peninsula. One set is down for the street and another set is down for the sidewalks. The City should work with UP to get this safety improvement done for the Eugene-Springfield area grade crossings.