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Budgets, bypass dominate I-5 forum By Jessica Smith Plans to revamp the south Medford freeway interchange are expected to ease traffic congestion and safety hazards on Barnett Road, according to state transportation officials. But most of the voices heard at a public meeting Tuesday night said the proposed interchange fix is no solution. "What we have here is a Band-aid," said Jim Potter, a Murphy Road resident. "We�re just going to blow all that money." Potter and others suggested the state use the $30-plus million that will spent to overhaul the interchange to build belt-lines around Medford. Belt-line routes would get freeway traffic out of the city and address regional transportation issues, they said. "The real problem is Interstate 5 running through the middle of town," said Ernest Garb, who heads up United Medford Citizens. "The real solution ... is to build a bypass or diversionary highway around the current problem." A bypass might be a good idea, but it�s not being considered by the state at this time, said Frank Stevens, who supervises the interchange project for the Oregon Department of Transportation. "That might be workable if we had a budget in the hundreds of millions of dollars," Stevens added. But the state has limited funds for road improvements, he said. "We need to put that money where we have immediate needs." Congestion at the south interchange leads to safety hazards on city streets as well as the freeway, said James Hanks, a consultant working on the project. Though reworking the interchange won�t address all the city�s needs, the alternatives would solve the problems at the interchange, Hanks said. Specifically, the state wants to move the interchange farther south to a connection with either Highland Drive or Ellendale Drive. A citizen committee working with the state prefers the Highland alternative because it would have fewer effects on Bear Creek and existing neighborhoods. The state won�t make a final decision on the project until July or August, after the public gets a chance to comment on a draft Environmental Impact Statement expected out in May. Besides the Highland and Ellendale options, a "no build" alternative is being studied in the EIS. In Tuesday�s meeting, most residents who spoke said they were unhappy with either of the "build" options. The meeting drew about 50 people, some residents of the east Medford neighborhoods that may be most significantly affected by the interchange project. "I feel very strongly that our neighborhoods are some of the most beautiful parts of Medford. They make Medford what it is," said Peter Noyes, a surgeon who lives on Barneburg Road. Sending freeway traffic down Highland will likely put more cars on Barneburg and other quiet east side streets, disturbing the neighborhoods, Noyes and others said. "Fixing (ODOT�s) problem by moving the interchange is going to ruin my neighborhood," Noyes said. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.