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Connector will ease congestion Garfield Street will access Highway 99 By JILL BRISKEY In an effort to relieve traffic congestion along Stewart Avenue to the north, construction crews will begin extending Garfield Street this month. When completed, the extension will give drivers a second route connecting south Medford to Highway 99. Thursday, the Medford City Council awarded the extension contract to Burl Brim Excavating Inc., which came in with the lowest bid at $1,898,439 - approximately 17 percent less than the city's projected cost. According to city engineering technician Ken Parducci, the Garfield Street extension will begin at South Holly Street and connect to Highway 99 at Belknap Road. Garfield Street now runs only between Columbus Avenue on the west and Holly Street on the east. Work is expected to begin later this month, and should be completed sometime in April, he added. Crews are scheduled to work Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Parducci said the construction will affect very few residents and nearby traffic congestion or delays aren't anticipated. "It's just farmlands and orchards out there," he added. Money for the project will come from the city's general fund, Parducci said. Parducci said the extension will turn Garfield into a five-lane arterial and collector street. Garfield will intersect Myers Lane in two places - where Myers bends in an "S" curve - and once at Anton Drive. Plans also call for a new turn lane along Highway 99 at the intersection of Belknap Road. Light signals will be installed at South Holly Street, Myers Lane and Highway 99, he added. Although not directly related, the project will complement the state's proposed south Medford interchange project, which is designed to ease traffic along Barnett Road at Interstate 5. "They're going to work in tandem with each other," Parducci said. That south interchange project isn't expected to get under way until 2005. Oregon Department of Transportation officials are waiting on the results of an environmental study before moving forward. The interchange project is expected to cost $50 million, according to ODOT project information specialist Gary Leaming. According to a Medford traffic survey conducted in 2000, 48,500 vehicles traveled through Barnett at Stewart during a 24-hour weekday period. The same study reported that approximately 37,000 vehicles passed through Riverside at Stewart. Reach reporter Jill Briskey at 776-4485, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.