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When the going gets tough ... Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Navigating Barnett Road around Medford's south freeway interchange is never fun, but things really back up during peak morning and afternoon commutes. ... the tough just figure it's part of traversing Medford's traffic bottlenecks By JESSICA SMITH Russ Jones doesn't need anyone to tell him there are more cars on the road. Since moving to the Rogue Valley in 1979, Jones has watched the region grow. It only makes sense that there's more traffic today, he said. "Back then, you could go from one end of town to the other in 10 minutes," said Jones, who owns Express Personnel Services and drives Highway 62, one of the region's busiest roads, every day. "Now it takes 20 to 30 minutes." But if Jones were looking for proof that traffic is increasing, he might find this interesting: Just more than 164,000 passenger cars were registered to drivers last year in Jackson County, according to the state Driver and Motor Vehicle Services division. In 1990, there were 125,000 registered passenger cars. Along with those 39,000 additional cars have come congested roadways and longer commutes, motorists and local transportation officials say. "It's rough," Jones said. "It's almost like big-city congestion." State and local transportation officials say they are working to make commutes easier. Several projects are in the works, including the planned overhauls of the north and south Interstate 5 interchanges, the reconfiguration of the "Big Y" intersection near Rogue Valley Mall and the extensions of North Phoenix Road and Garfield Street in Medford. A regional plan to address traffic congestion also is under way. The Rogue Valley Council of Governments is in the process of identifying the best way to relieve congestion on the area's busiest streets. But for now, motorists like Jones must navigate the traffic snarls. Ask Jones and other motorists to tell you which intersections they dread and they'll make a list: Barnett Road and Stewart Avenue; the Big Y (at Riverside Avenue and Crater Lake Highway); Crater Lake Highway at Poplar Drive and Delta Waters; McAndrews and Biddle roads. It comes as no surprise to motorists and transportation officials that Medford streets are considered the most congested roads in the region. There is some slowing on Main Street in downtown Ashland, particularly at lunch time and in the evening rush hours. And traffic sometimes crawls at the freeway interchange at Peninger Road in Central Point. But as Jackson County's largest city - and the region's commercial hub - Medford invites more traffic than other jurisdictions. "The worst time I have is in the morning, when I turn left onto Biddle from McAndrews," said Chris Smith, who manages Fitness Edge, a sporting goods store near the Blue Sky Plaza. "The light there doesn't last long. You can only get three or four cars through there." Craig Hollinsworth, who owns Yellow Cab taxi service, is regularly confronted with traffic delays when shuttling passengers to their destinations in Medford. As expected, he says, the worst delays come at peak travel hours, between 8 and 10 a.m. and 4 and 5 p.m. Still, Hollinsworth said, the situation could be worse. "We all complain about the traffic in Medford. But when I go to San Francisco, Seattle or Portland and come back, I don't complain for a couple weeks," he added. "The traffic gets bad. It gets frustrating. But it's not impossible." Reach reporter Jessica Smith at 776-4481, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.