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Street plan won't please everyone Phoenix aims to ease traffic flow By WENDY SIPOREN PHOENIX -- The rolling pasture land between the Petro Center and the Meadow View subdivision will be a main thoroughfare in a local improvement district now under consideration by the city. Two new roads, traffic signals and one additional lane on Fern Valley Road are the beginning of the city's attempts to improve traffic around the freeway interchange. The improvements are destined to be controversial, not only because of the cost -- estimated at $2,326,173 -- but also because of the changes they will make to traffic flow in the commercial area. Preliminary cost estimates for the eight property owners in the proposed district range from $49,780 to $972,108 for Petro Stopping Centers. The charges were prepared by an engineering firm based on the type of business on each property and the amount of traffic each generates weekly. In the case of undeveloped properties, the engineers made the estimate based on the property's potential to develop based on its zoning. Under the proposal, South Phoenix Road will be created, beginning at Fern Valley Road and ending at Pear Tree Lane. A new east-west road called Freshwater Drive will cut between the hotel and restaurant, connecting with South Phoenix Road. Pear Tree Motel and R.V. Park owner Kung Park says she isn't opposed to the planned new roads. Her biggest concern is maintaining access to her businesses from Pear Tree Lane. She doesn't want the road blocked off. The Oregon Department of Transportation hasn't finalized plans for traffic flow on Pear Tree Lane, but one option is to prohibit left turns from the street onto Fern Valley Road. Traffic would be able to enter Fern Valley Road from South Phoenix Road. "People won't drive one block further (to get to the motel)," said motel manager Ted Beckett. "It would bankrupt a million-dollar business." Final plans call for four lanes of traffic, bike lanes and sidewalks from the overpass to the relocated North Phoenix Road with a raised, landscaped median. The median would force all traffic leaving the commercial area to exit by South Phoenix Road at the signal on Fern Valley. Property owners have yet to be notified about the proposed improvements and their potential cost. Notices will be sent out as soon as the district's boundaries are set. But already business owners are readying for a fight. "We're waiting for the public hearings because we'll be there with our ball bats and ready to swing," said Beckett. That public process will include at least one public hearing in June or July. Once the plan is adopted, construction could begin this fall. Still under consideration by the council is whether to include in the district the Meadow View subdivision and a property to its south owned by the Southern Oregon University Foundation. If these properties are included, other owners' costs would drop. The preliminary charges also don't include contributions from the city or the state. ODOT has budgeted $2.45 million for improvements to Fern Valley Road in 2002. A project team including traffic engineers and at least one representative from the city will begin working this summer to decide which improvements will be made first. City planners estimate that all the needed improvements along Fern Valley Road will cost from $7 million to $10 million. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA