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Future traffic talk draws 80 By JIM DAVIS With the help of some cookies and coffee, traffic officials and leaders lured more than 80 people to an auditorium in Medford on Monday night and then asked them how best to spend $74.5 million. Proposed projects Here are the Southern Oregon projects proposed as part of a $550 million bond issue for state highway improvements, which would be funded by higher gasoline taxes and vehicle registration fees. Voters will decide the fate of the higher taxes and fees in the May 16 primary election. Improvements to south Medford interchange with Interstate 5, $15 million. Phase 2 of realignment of north Medford interchange with I-5, $18 million. Phase 3 of realignment of north Medford interchange with I-5, $20 million. Completion of connection between Highway 62 and Highway 238 in west Medford, $9 million. Improvements on U.S. 101 from Coos Bay south to Highway 42 junction, $17 million. Completion of four lanes on Highway 42 between Coos Bay and Myrtle Point, $12 million. Improvements on Highway 42 near Winston, $5 million. For more information, visit the Oregon Department of Transportation Web site at http://www.odot.state.or.us/stip To comment on projects, write or call Mike Baker at: Southwest Oregon headquarters of ODOT, 3500 N.W. Stewart Parkway, Roseburg, Ore. 97470, phone (541) 957-3658. Or e-mail: [email protected] The transportation officials already had a shopping list that includes projects for the north and south interchanges in Medford as well as a connecting route between highways 238 and 62. "This is a major amount of funding," said Stuart Foster, a Medford lawyer who is a member of the Oregon Transportation Commission. "This a major undertaking with regard to our modernization effort." The public meeting at the Smullin Center at the Rogue Valley Medical Center was to rank a list of highway and bridge improvements for Southern Oregon. The improvements would be paid for by a statewide bond of $600 million, including $74.5 million for Southern Oregon and an estimated $53 million for Jackson County. The commission is scheduled to receive a preliminary report about the projects in November and make the list final in December. The improvements would be derailed, however, if voters next May reject a Legislature-approved nickel-a-gallon gasoline tax and higher registration fees. Regardless of that outcome, Foster, Mike Montero and Medford City Councilman Skip Knight -- all transportation officials -- on Monday wanted to know what residents thought about the state's shopping list. They also wanted to know what should have been on the list and what could be taken off. The spectators -- many of them elected officials -- offered a wide variety of ideas. Central Point City Councilman David Gilmour asked that transportation officials consider adding a route from Blackwell Road to Highway 140; the idea has been talked about for years, but the idea was scrapped as too expensive for too little benefit. Several people urged the transportation officials to consider a beltway around Medford. Medford resident Edgar Hee suggested that the transportation officials consider retrofitting the Viaduct for an earthquake, saying that a big one could cut off west Medford to access to the city's two hospitals. Cheryl Stout, a board member of the Jackson County Urban Renewal Agency, asked that the transportation officials rank high improvements for Highway 62 between Medford and White City. "We're at the outer edge of capacity on this highway," Stout said. Several people who live near and around Ellendale Drive in south Medford spoke out against the idea of extending that road to Barnett Road, a possibility being considered to help relieve the jammed traffic on the south Medford interchange. Montero said the idea of Monday's meeting was to look at larger ideas instead of specific alignments or engineering details. Even so, he said the transportation officials understood the neighbors' concerns. "It's easy for us to say that it's lines on a map," Montero said. "It's your homes. We understand that." Foster also lobbied for support of the gas tax. He said he had traveled through Oregon and saw the need for a modernization of the state's roadways. "We're really going to be behind the 8-ball on this (if the state doesn't get money) and we're going to have horrendous problems and fail to achieve our goal of liveable communities," Foster said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA