Mail Tribune News - Phoenix studies street options

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Phoenix studies street options Fern Valley alternative proposed By WENDY SIPOREN PHOENIX -- The Planning Commission took the first steps in crafting a long-term solution to the traffic problems at the intersection of Highway 99 and Fern Valley Road. As part of a comprehensive transportation system plan forwarded to the City Council Monday, the Planning Commission endorsed studying the possibility of rerouting Fern Valley Road traffic down East Boltz Road to intersect Highway 99 at the new post office. The current traffic signal would be moved to the new intersection and the existing road connection would be removed. Earlier this year, a citizens advisory committee decided against a realignment option that would have cut through a portion of the Exxon gas station and Ray's Sentry Market parking lot in order to align Fern Valley Road and Cheryl Lane. Several realignment options involving Cheryl Lane were criticized by committee members because of their impact on adjacent businesses. Instead, the committee proposed limiting turns into and out of Cheryl Lane to right-turn only in order to make the intersection safer. The planning commission's recommendation would not affect the immediate plans for a change at Cheryl Lane. The decision to pursue a new realignment option should please representatives of state land-use and transportation planners who criticized the Cheryl Lane solution as a short-term fix. In addition, the Boltz Road option would help solve a second traffic problem, said city planner Denis Murray -- drivers wanting to turn left from West Boltz onto Highway 99. Currently vehicles leaving the post office are required to turn right onto the highway. As illustrated in the transportation plan, the East Boltz realignment option would require the removal of at least two houses on East Boltz Road. The plan points out that if the bridge over Bear Creek is rebuilt, it could be relocated further south to accommodate the realignment. Murray emphasized that the Boltz Road option is conceptual only at this point and will require further study. It has yet to be endorsed by the City Council. "At this point it's a long-range alternative," said Murray. "We don't even know if it's do-able from an engineering standpoint." Mail Tribune Copyright �  The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA