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Highway 62 businesses want state to yield on project plans By GREG STILES Daytime driving on Highway 62 through north Medford is a trying experience at best and a downright ordeal at peak hours. The good news, for some, is that the Oregon Department of Transportation is gearing up to do something about it after years of study. The bad news is that the heavy traffic, headaches and frazzled nerves will only get worse when construction begins in 2003. Even when the first phase of the project is complete in 2005, it's unlikely that everyone will be happy. Government and citizen panels involved in the $36 million project say the 12 businesses displaced, and others losing access or part of their property, are a necessary price to improve the flow of ever-increasing traffic. "The environmental document is done and signed and we're moving forward with everything in it," said ODOT area manager Monte Grove. "If we discover some things that need to be changed, we have flexibility and may have amendments." Count Crater Lake Motors and Fred Meyer among those hoping for amendments. When planning began in 1997, Crater Lake Motors was outside ODOT's impact area. But plan changes brought the project closer to the Ford dealer's 2611 Biddle Road doors. Traffic signals, now at Hilton Road, will be shifted 300 feet north to where the old Medco log hauling road crossed Biddle. That's going to change how 300 to 400 drivers enter the dealership property every day. Back in 1985, when Crater Lake Motors left downtown for the present location, the curbs and sidewalks were torn up and replaced on company property and a turn lane, allowing access for northbound traffic, was added. ODOT counts 16,000 cars using the road each day. Even with the stoplight more than 100 yards away now, traffic backs up at peak times, blocking Crater Lake's primary entrance. "As I'm seeing it now, that stacking lane would be eliminated," Crater Lake Motors owner Jim Coleman said. "It's extremely tough to get in and out right now and it's dangerous. "If they eliminate the stacking lane it's really going to be dangerous." Coleman is asking ODOT to put in access from a road across the intersection that will service Whitham Truck Stop and Western Tool & Supply, allowing entrance from the southwest of its property. "There are two concerns," Coleman said. "People won't go to a business that's hard to get to and secondly, safety." Crater Lake Motors made its case before the project's citizen's advisory committee and solution team on Tuesday. "The solutions committee was not real excited, but I'm not sure they realize the safety concerns," Coleman said. While Crater Lake's problems are nearer at hand, Fred Meyer could suffer a much greater long-term fate. The first phase will create plenty of challenges for the one-stop shopping center built in 1982 and most recently remodeled in 1999 at a cost of more than $7 million. Fred Meyer stands to lose its primary northside access from Highway 62 and a substantial amount of its parking. "That will be detrimental," says Dick Clark, Fred Meyer vice president for real estate and development. "When it's through, we'll have three accesses consolidated into one and it won't be as convenient as it is today." Drivers would have to turn east onto Poplar Drive and then right at a new signal where Fred Meyer's east entrance intersects Poplar. It's the second, but presently unfunded, phase that Clark said could put Fred Meyer and several other companies between Biddle and Delta Waters out of business. The second phase would elevate traffic exiting Interstate 5 between the freeway and Delta Waters, eliminating direct access along the entire corridor. "It would basically be a taking of the entire piece of property and eliminate retail potential for this site," Clark said. "I don't know what the best usage would be, probably a mini-storage that takes half and hour to get to." There's no denying that things will change; exactly what will change isn't clear. Mike Montero, a development consultant and co-chairman of the Rogue Valley Area Commission on Transportation, likened the Highway 62 overhaul to a hurting child with a potentially fatal ailment needing surgery. The child might balk at the thought of undergoing the knife, but it's necessary to save his life. "It's important to recognize firms and clients of firms adversely impacted," Montero said. "There's going to be some negative impact, no question. Having said that, however, when you look at the larger community business and customer perspective, it's important to understand the consequences of not doing anything." He said ODOT has a half-dozen minor tweaks, but won't compromise the project's safety or operational integrity. Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.