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South interchange tops highway project ranking Regional panel, Medford mayor disagree on priorities By PETER WONG WHITE CITY -- Medford Mayor Lindsay Berryman disagreed with how they were ranked Tuesday, but a two-county panel endorsed four Medford highway projects for a $540 million state shopping list. The final say on what was recommended by the Rogue Valley Area Commission on Transportation will be in the hands of two other groups. The Oregon Transportation Commission will decide the list of projects Dec. 16. Oregon voters will decide whether to increase gasoline taxes and vehicle registration fees to pay for the projects in the primary election May 16. The projects ranked by the regional panel were: Improvements at the south Medford interchange with Interstate 5, $15 million, to be matched with $5 million each from the city, the Medford Urban Renewal Agency and developers. Completion of the linkage between Highway 238 and Highway 62 in west Medford, $9 million. Second phase of Highway 62 improvements near the north Medford interchange with I-5, $18 million. Third phase of Highway 62 improvements, $11 million of the $20 million proposed. Monte Grove, area manager for the Oregon Department of Transportation, said the last project was cut so that all the projects would fit under the state's allocation of $53 million for Jackson and Josephine counties. That amount is 9.9 percent of the $540 million available statewide. Berryman, who represents Medford on the regional panel, said it had the right projects but in the wrong order. "In my estimation, I think the second phase of Highway 238 does not have as high a priority as the third phase of Highway 62," she said after the meeting. "The demand on Highway 62 is there right now. "I understand the need to do a second phase once you do a first phase of a project. But my preference would have been to do Highway 62 first." The first phase of Highway 62 is funded by a federal transportation grant of $19.6 million. Chairman Mike Montero of Medford said a decisive factor with the regional panel in its rankings was the recommendation by experts on the panel's technical committee. "We would have liked more money to do all we would like to do," said Montero, a private-sector member from KOGAP Enterprises. "But we understand there are financial constraints." Grove said the state commission, which met Tuesday in Salem to consider preliminary recommendations, will consider the reports of regional panels when it meets again to decide the list Dec. 16. That list, which then goes to a special legislative committee, may remain a big wish list if voters reject the Legislature's package to pay for them. Led by the Oregon/Idaho chapter of the American Automobile Association, opponents gathered enough signatures to refer the issue to the primary election ballot May 16. Part of the higher gasoline taxes and vehicle registration fees would be earmarked for a $600 million bond issue to pay for the projects. The state commission and regional panels are identifying projects totaling $540 million; the rest is set aside for environmental studies, preliminary engineering and right-of-way purchases. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA