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Medford seeks more time for interchange comments By MELISSA MARTIN Mail Tribune The Medford City Council asked the state Thursday to accept more public comments on the South Medford interchange redesign, despite the risk of losing some funding for the project. "A number of our constituents felt like they didn't have an adequate opportunity to comment on this," said Councilman Bob Strosser. "We asked, 'What constructive thing can we do?' " The Federal Highway Administration would have to approve extending the public comment period; approval could take up to 120 days and put $1 million to $6 million in federal funding at risk, said Monte Grove, Oregon Department of Transportation area manager. "I'm concerned about what it does to the timeline of this project and the streams of funding," Grove said. Medford resident Peter Noyes of the Eastside Neighborhood Coalition asked the council to forward its request for 90 more days to submit comments. "We all need to be educated and understand the impact of this interchange relocation on our lives and the city," Noyes said. "Honestly, too many people have not had enough time to review this voluminous document, as I'm sure each of you has." About 200 people met the Dec. 3 deadline to submit comments about the $50 million project, which the state hopes will solve traffic backups caused by 36,000 cars daily traveling Barnett Road near the South Medford interchange, said Frank Stevens, ODOT project manager. "Extending the public comment period puts the project at risk," he said. The South Medford interchange must be in the property acquisition phase by September 2002 or it will lose some federal funding, he said. Eastside Neighborhood Coalition member Barbara Griffin gave the City Council a stack of letters Thursday night written by school children submitted after the Dec. 3 deadline. Also, resident Ted Hass told the council that he requested a copy of the south interchange's draft environmental impact statement and received instead material for the $36 million north interchange project, which is scheduled for construction in 2003. "I just got the right document last Thursday," Hass said. That might not be enough to convince a state and federal transportation panel to reopen the public comment period, ODOT officials said. "They will need to have a good idea there is information they will receive that isn't reflected in the record so far," Grove said. Councilwoman Claudette Moore suggested following in the footsteps of Rep. Rob Patridge, R-Medford, who Thursday asked ODOT to reopen the comment period and postpone making a decision about which route the new interchange would take. Patridge asked ODOT to push back a meeting scheduled for Dec. 17, at which the South Medford Interchange Solution Team was expected to choose between the Highland and Ellendale alignments. Reach reporter Melissa Martin at 776-4497, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.