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Last stretch of greenway may be done in 2003 Mail Tribune / Drew Fleming A cyclist pedals past the Bike Path Journal drop box in Talent, where Bear Creek Greenway users write poems and comments on the path. The greenway is one step closer to completion with the county's approval of funding to engineer the last four-mile link between Medford and Talent. Originally envisioned as a 50-mile pedestrian and cycling path between Eagle Point and Ashland, the 18-mile greenway will link Central Point and Ashland with the final portion, estimated to be completed in 2003. Greenway advocates need to raise $3.5 million to construct the link. County panel OKs money to prep final piece By DANI DODGE After 30 years of building tiny stretches and fractured fragments, the Bear Creek Greenway - a paved trail from Central Point to Ashland - could be completed by 2003. "We're jazzed. We're pumped," said Al Densmore, the Bear Creek Greenway Foundation's vice president. "We see the finish line and we're going to go after it." Back in 1973, Densmore was the chairman of the House Local Government and Urban Affairs Committee in the state Legislature. A county commissioner and parks director approached him with an innovative idea: a 50-mile walking and biking trail from Eagle Point to Emigrant Lake. The Bear Creek Greenway bill was passed that year, outlining a private/public partnership that would build that dream. But when the economy crashed in the mid-1980s, greenway supporters decided to concentrate their efforts on building the greenway in the most populated portion of Jackson County - an 18-mile stretch along Bear Creek connecting communities from Central Point to Ashland. Last week, the Jackson County Budget Committee provided one of the last crucial pieces of the puzzle for the project: $430,000 to finish engineering for the four-mile segment between Suncrest Road in Talent and South Stage Road in Medford. "I've been convinced all along it's a high priority for people in the county," said Commissioner Sue Kupillas. "It fits in as an alternative to transportation ... and it's also a very good recreational facility." Now the foundation needs to raise the last $3.5 million to actually construct the ribbon of walkway. Kupillas said she's confident the greenway foundation can raise the remaining funds. "It is a lot of money, but the greenway has a very huge and very passionate constituency," she said. Densmore said the foundation is considering creating a new fund-raising committee to "help us energize the community for this effort." "There will be individual contributions, companies will find this a good idea, foundations and state," Densmore said. "What we did to save a precious asset like Mount Ashland can be brought together to create a precious asset like the Bear Creek Greenway." Already the fragmented stretches of the greenway have proven popular. Weekends and even weekdays, the paths are busy with walkers, cyclists and inline skaters. Mothers jog while their babies sail ahead in high-tech strollers and old men take short jaunts, leaning heavily on their aluminum walkers. In all, six miles is left to finish. The two-mile section in Medford from South Stage Road to Barnett Road is funded and being engineered now, said county Special Projects manager Karen Smith, who has been shepherding the greenway since 1978. The county's $430,000 will take care of engineering the last four miles. Engineering the greenway means making sure that the trail is put in places that won't hurt the creek or the coho salmon in it. Engineering means making sure the soils can support bridges. Engineering means laying down the map for a trail that won't be wiped out by floods, but still gives walkers and bikers the best views and scenery. After the engineering is done, construction can begin. So far, $12.5 million has been invested in the project over the past 30 years. Densmore said he hopes someday the greenway will stretch as far as it was first planned - a total of 50 miles. But that's for his children and grandchildren to figure out. For now, he's ecstatic they are so close to closing that final and most difficult gap. A completed greenway will encourage economic development as tourists stay that extra day to "do the greenway" and businesses locate here after seeing what the community created, Densmore said. It will motivate people to get off their couches and enjoy the beauty of the Rogue Valley in a healthy way. And it will further cement ties along the county's urban core. "The greenway is part of a much larger concept," Densmore pointed out. "That's to have us live a healthier lifestyle in communities that are much more 'communities' in the best sense of the word." Reach reporter Dani Dodge at 776-4471, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.