Document text
Rest stop gets financial green light State go-ahead puts $3.5 million project on road to '02 start By JESSICA SMITH State transportation officials have lifted a stay put on a plan to build a freeway rest area south of Ashland. Working with Sen. Lenn Hannon and other local legislators, the Oregon Department of Transportation has identified the money it needs for the $3.5 million project. It may be two years before construction begins, however. "Without the help of our legislators, this wouldn't be happening," said Sandra Slattery, executive director for the Ashland Chamber of Commerce. Earlier this year, when ODOT shelved the rest area project for lack of funding, tourism officials demanded the state reconsider its decision. In addition to a rest area, the project includes a welcome center for tourists. "I think it came through because we weren't asleep at the switch," Slattery said. Hannon, a co-chairman of the Joint Ways and Means Committee, said he made the rest area and welcome center his priority because of the role it plays in Southern Oregon's economy. "It certainly adds to tourism," Hannon said. "It's economically important to Ashland and Southern Oregon. We want to try to encourage people to stop early in their stay." According to Slattery, the welcome center could translate to more tourism dollars spent in Southern Oregon. In committee, Hannon set aside $3.5 million of ODOT's budget before the money could be distributed to the transportation department's various programs for road construction, preservation and improvement. That money, and the rest area project, will be included in the 2002-05 statewide improvement plan, said Monte Grove, area manager for ODOT. "We would not have taken the funds off the top of the organization," Grove said. "We would have looked for outside funding sources for the project." The department's current priority is bridge and road maintenance. Plans for a rest area and welcome center have been brewing since January 1996, when the state closed the Siskiyou Rest Area at milepost 10 for safety reasons. The new rest area would be on a 12-acre site about a mile south of Ashland's freeway interchange at Highway 66. Because the state must still work through the planning process, Grove said construction isn't expected to begin until 2003. Meanwhile, Rep. Rob Patridge said he won't pursue an amendment to Oregon law that would permit rest areas on land zoned exclusively for farm use. Rest areas are not a permitted use on farm land under current state law. ODOT must get permission from county and state land-use authorities to proceed with the project. But Patridge said he's confident the rest area will move ahead. "At this point in time, we've decided not to pursue (the amendment)," he said. "It appears the project is on track and that it can be completed within the current land-use structure." 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.