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New road could ease interchange traffic woes Would give motorists another north-south option in Medford By JIM DAVIS A street squeezed along the west side of the Medford railroad tracks could help motorists get from one end of the city to the other, according to the Medford Urban Renewal Agency. The proposed road -- called Evergreen Street -- could relieve traffic at the south Medford interchange, said Mike Webber of the Medford Urban Renewal Agency, a city agency charged with renovating downtown. "We'd like to see the whole thing built, but only if the (traffic) numbers work out," Webber said on Tuesday. The new street would be built along a 50- to 60-foot strip just west of the tracks in what is now little more than scrubland and parking lots. Urban Renewal asked the Oregon Department of Transportation to take a look at the concept, because the state agency is considering several road changes in Medford to improve the city's north-south access. ODOT's goal is to lessen traffic at the overburdened south Medford interchange. "It's (the Evergreen Street concept) definitely something that we're going to look at," said Frank Stevens of the Oregon Department of Transportation. Fixing the south interchange is one of the state's top goals for a gas tax approved by the Oregon Legislature; however, that tax could go to voters if the state chapter of the American Automobile Association fights the issue. The Evergreen Street concept came from state consultants who were helping Urban Renewal this spring plan for a large number of public buildings to be constructed downtown. The consultants looked at Urban Renewal's street plans and suggested the Evergreen Street concept to help traffic flow. Secondly, the consultants realized ODOT was trying to improve the city's north-south flow and suggested the Evergreen Street concept could help if it was stretched to run from as far north as Table Rock Road to as far south as South Stage Road, Webber said. Webber said his agency bought part of the strip downtown last year, because it wanted to use it for parking. "We've got enough room to do two lanes of traffic, and also sidewalks and angle parking," Webber said. Another benefit of the plan would be to boost the value of an otherwise unused area. Webber said the strip along the tracks is just scrubland and all the buildings have been built facing away from the tracks. By putting in the street, sidewalks and parking and adding a park setting, those buildings could be renovated to front the tracks. Traffic engineers will run the Evergreen Street concept and the other road options through a computer-modeling program in September, Stevens said. He said most of the options for improving north-south access are road changes in east Medford. That's because east Medford has fewer easy routes north-south than the west part of town. "But we are recognizing that there could be potential to improve traffic flow on the west side also," Stevens said. ODOT is also looking at a city-proposed option that would run a new street from Alba Drive to Cottage Street. Even if ODOT doesn't use the concept, Webber said Urban Renewal will look at building Evergreen Street. He said that its benefit to downtown merits a serious look by his agency. "Does that mean we're going to do the street?" Webber said. "We don't know. We're going to have to look at the numbers." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA