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TRANSPORTATION Preliminary work on Welcome Center underway this week Site grading to begin, paving to follow, but completion still years away Comment By John Darling For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By John Darling For the Tidings Posted Nov. 19, 2015 at 2:00 AM By John Darling For the Tidings Posted Nov. 19, 2015 at 2:00 AM » Social News Crews have begun work on the Siskiyou Rest Area and Welcome Center just before the south Ashland interchange on the northbound side. “They’re just setting signs and starting to mobilize in,” and may be restrained by weather in the near term, says Gary Leaming, spokesman for the Oregon Department of Transportation. The contractor, Standard Paving of Eugene, will work on drainage, grading and paving of ramps, roadway, parking area and an access road to Crowson Road, half a mile away. A second phase will see ODOT contractors build the rest area and welcome center facilities, landscaping and picnic areas, with bid opening expected in April. The first phase is expected to cost about $6.3 million. The entire project is expected to total about $12 million and be done in 2018. ODOT encountered much resistance from neighbors, who charged there would be noise and fumes from large trucks, as well as trespassing from transients entering the valley. “The crux of it was the Oak Knoll neighbors with concerns about everything from safety to transients," Leaming said. "They had a long list of concerns and grievances and we responded to each one in a satisfactory manner. We went to many meetings of the Ashland City Council and the Jackson County Planning Commission.” In response to objections about truck noise and fumes, ODOT agreed to build separate rest rooms for truckers at the Port of Entry 5 miles north “and banished them from the rest area,” he said. They also enhanced fencing of the rest area. Though it is just outside the city limits, ODOT will get potable water and sewer service to the complex from the city of Ashland and water for landscaping from the Talent Irrigation District. The visitor center will be built in a so-called Cascadia design and house an array of multi-media primers on tourist attractions in Ashland, the Rogue Valley and the state of Oregon, all about 2 miles before the state’s first off-ramp with multiple tourist-serving options, so tourists from California, the biggest revenue stream of the industry, will have a chance to make decisions about where to visit, near and far, said Leaming. It also provides “safe harbor” to tourists, says Leaming, after their winding and sometimes unnerving journey down Siskiyou Pass, the highest part of I-5. It will also house an office for Oregon State Police troopers. The informational heart of the Welcoming Center will be staffed by TravelOregon, which is funded by a statewide 1 percent transient lodging tax. More than three million vehicles travel north on I-5 into Oregon annually, according to ODOT statistics. The building project is funded with state and federal funds from the gas tax and other sources. The near Welcome Center will be near milepost 12. The old rest area near milepost 10, south of the new center and on the downgrade from Siskiyou Summit, was considered unsafe, with several vehicle fatalities around the site before it was closed in the late 1990s, leaving ODOT obligated under federal transportation funding rules to create another one nearby, in a safer place. Exit 19 on the north side of Ashland was explored but rejected when it had too many “private sector planning issues.” John Darling is an Ashland freelance writer. Reach him at [email protected]. By John Darling For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By John Darling For the Tidings Posted Nov. 19, 2015 at 2:00 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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