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Road to trouble Photo by Jim Craven Scott McCollum of the Rogue Regency Inn in Medford says the new north Medford interchange will limit access to his business. McCollum represents one of a large number of businesses concerned with the changes the state has proposed. Next year's revision of the north Medford interchange will affect more than 20 businesses, some of whose owners are ready to fight By MELISSA MARTIN Mail Tribune A hotel owner who plans to build a 350-seat convention center. A fast-food restaurant owner who recently spent $200,000 remodeling his store and playground. A hairdresser who owns a shop where 10 self-employed women work. Eleven businesses with 178 employees must go when the Oregon Department of Transportation begins building a new north Medford interchange next year. About a dozen other businesses will lose driveways or parking spaces. The big changes in the works Here are some of the major changes planned for the north Medford interchange project: The traffic signal on Highway 62 in front of Fred Meyer will be removed, replaced by right-in/right-out access. The grocery store's main entrance will be moved to Poplar Drive. Poplar Drive will be aligned with Bullock Road. Fred Meyer's Poplar Drive access next to Taco Bell will become right-in/right-out only. The grocery store's new entrance will be at a signal shared with Poplar Square, the shopping center across the street. Hilton Road will be closed. Comfort Inn guests will enter through a shared driveway with Rogue Regency. Carl's Jr. and the nearby shopping center will be demolished. Motel 6 will have restricted access. What is now a freeway ramp will become a shared driveway for Rogue Regency and Comfort Inn. Customers leaving the motels cannot turn left. To head west, they must head east and make a U-turn at a nearby signal. The traffic signal at Hilton Road and Biddle Road will be moved about 200 feet closer to Crater Lake Motors. The old Medco Haul Road will be brought down to street level and will provide back access for Witham Truck Center/Restaurant and Western Tool Supply. Crater Lake Motors also wants Medco Road access. The old Medco Haul Road bridge over the I-5 will be removed. The Medco road will cross over what is now Hilton Road and connect with Crater Lake Highway. "Motels are the most likely to move to another interchange and since they can't move to the south Medford interchange because of the planned construction there, they may move to Central Point," said Rogue Regency owner Scott McCollum, who will end up with acreage that is "landlocked," or closely surrounded by roads. "That will mean a loss for the city of Medford." The state may spend $21 million of the $36 million north Medford interchange project buying property. By comparison, the "Big X" highway project through mostly vacant land across from the Rogue Valley Mall cost the state $8.9 million for rights of way, more than the $8.3 million budgeted, said Gary Taylor, right of way supervisor for ODOT's Region 3. Four of the Big X cases went to court, he said. "Interstate 5 is one of the heaviest freight corridors in the United States and Highway 62 is a main freight corridor, from Eastern Oregon to east Jackson County," said Frank Stevens, ODOT project manager. "We've had so many complaints from people within Medford who depend on that corridor and from surrounding communities who say it takes two to three times longer to get into town to conduct business than it did before." If the north Medford interchange is not improved, traffic may come to crawl and local businesses would suffer even more, said Monte Grove, ODOT area manager. "We are sympathetic with their losses," Grove said. "Even with the economic impacts, their businesses are at risk with the no-build option. When that corridor goes to gridlock, you won't be able to get to their facility." Most business owners agree that something needs to be done to accommodate the 40,000 vehicles that travel this stretch daily, a number that may jump to 70,000 within 20 years. Cars stack up on Poplar Drive and Hilton Road, sometimes waiting through two red lights to get onto Crater Lake Highway. I-5 traffic waiting to merge onto Highway 62 backs up on freeway ramps. But business owners disagree with the state's route that will plow through IHOP and Denny's restaurants, Pony Soldier Best Western Inn, Chevron's car wash, Carl's Jr., Hair Etc., H&R Block, Hot Springs Spa, Checks Cashed Northwest and McCollum Commercial Properties office. Neither do they agree with the route coming within a few feet of Shilo Inn's windows and leaving Comfort Inn and Fred Meyer without front entrances. "It's devastating to me," said Carl's Jr. owner Dave Thomason of Grants Pass, who remodeled the 13-year-old store not long before the state announced the project. "My wife and I have worked real hard with our business. We've got a lot of great employees." While he's searching for a new North Medford location, he's preparing for battle with ODOT over compensation for his business. "It's a simple equation - I have to have enough money to rebuild that building," said Thomason, who employs 27 people at his restaurant. Another restaurant, IHOP - which employs 45 people, more than any other displaced business - may leave Medford completely. "We will close the restaurant and it's not a guarantee that we will rebuild," said Patrick Leno, of IHOP Corp. in Glendale, Calif. Hair Etc. owner Helen Gill is searching for a new site and is discovering that lease rates may be $500 to $1,000 more per month. The beauty shop is in Rogue Valley Center next to Rogue Regency Inn. "My husband bought this business and found this location for me before he died so I could making a living," Gill said. "I've been asked if I'll move early but I'm going to stay here until they absolutely, positively kick me out." At H&R Block next door, district manager Roxie Jenkins said she will miss the freeway location. "Businesses are fighting this tooth and nail, and it puts the project in limbo," Jenkins said. The Land Use Board of Appeals decided to hear an appeal filed by Rogue Regency, Witham Truck Center and Comfort Inn owners. They claim the Poplar Drive/Crater Lake Highway intersection will fail to meet state traffic standards or federal air quality rules for carbon monoxide levels even after the new interchange is built. The North Interchange Concerned Business Owners support the appeal. The group also hired a Portland engineering firm, Kittleson and Associates, to submit to the state alternate routes that would protect Pony Soldier Inn and Denny's restaurant. The group has spent nearly $100,000 making their concerns known to the state, McCollum said. Most of the Kittleson alternatives would not accommodate traffic safely, Stevens said. But ODOT adopted part of the plan, taking out Carl's Jr. and the Rogue Valley Center shops because the state's plan left these businesses nearly landlocked. The project will greatly impact Arco, a gas station on the corner of Hilton Road and Highway 62, as well as Chevron, located on Biddle Road near the northbound freeway ramp for the past 25 years. The state is taking property in front and in back of Chevron and putting a divider down Biddle Road, said Greg Hayes, area manager for Colvin Oil, the Chevron station's owner. "We'll only get southbound traffic and northbound traffic won't be able to access us. It's essentially going to wipe us out because we won't be able to operate with half a business," Hayes said. "I don't understand why the city of Medford went along with this. Everything is moving to the Central Point exit. Nobody will stop here for services. At least three gas stations are being wiped out and two motels and several more will be severely impacted. This represents motel tax receipts leaving the city of Medford and going to the city of Central Point." Medford's 38 motels generated $1.67 million in city revenue last year, up from $1 million in 1997, city finance officers said. The increase is partly due to the transient lodging tax rising from 6 to 8 percent last year and partly due to two new motels. But how much in taxes the eight motels in the North Medford interchange area generate remains unknown - a city attorney refused to release that information to the Mail Tribune. The state's project may prevent Rogue Regency owner McCollum from completing his three-phase plan, which started with a motel and restaurant in 1990 and included an expansion to 204 rooms in 1999. He planned to build a convention center on acreage that will become landlocked after the new interchange is built. He's also losing 50 parking spaces, a service entrance on Hilton Road and his Biddle Road address. But the toughest impact may be for drivers leaving his parking lot. They can only turn right. If they want to head west, they have to travel to a signal on Biddle Road and make a U-turn. "We do a good job of making out guests happy," McCollum said. "But if they leave happy and become frustrated and mad about the traffic routes, they won't come back to our motel." Two big stores will see effects of interchange project The north Medford interchange project is predicted to have a great impact on two of the largest stores in that area. At Crater Lake Motors, 800 people a day stop by the Ford and Mercedes Benz dealerships for sales or service. Owner Jim Coleman hopes they have patience with the increased traffic on Biddle Road. "It would have a great economic impact on us if customers couldn't get in and out of our business, plus the safety of people getting on and off Biddle Road," Coleman said. He's asking the North Medford Interchange Solution Team to do for him what they did for Witham Truck Center and Western Tool - allow access to the Medco Haul Road once it has been rebuilt. When the state moves the Hilton Road traffic signal 300 feet closer to Crater Lake Motors, it will cause rush-hour traffic to block the dealerships' driveways, Coleman said. With 207 employees, Fred Meyer may be the largest employer impacted (without being demolished) by the new north Medford interchange. The combined grocery/hardware/clothing store must build a new entrance on Poplar Drive and reconfigure its parking lot. But during Phase II of the interchange project, when Highway 62 becomes an elevated freeway passing over the top of Poplar Drive, Fred Meyer will lose too many customers, said store manager Darin Baker. Access would be restricted for all Crater Lake Highway businesses, from Poplar Drive to Delta Waters Road. Fred Meyer customers coming from the freeway would have to travel to Delta Waters Road and backtrack to get to the grocery store. "Phase II would basically be a taking of our store by the state," said Rob Boley, assistant vice president of public relations for Kroger Co., which owns Fred Meyer. "It would cut our business so severely, we couldn't afford to operate. The property's use would no longer be suitable for a retail store like ours." Phase II is necessary to deal with the failing intersection of Poplar Drive and Crater Lake Highway, said Frank Stevens, ODOT project manager. ODOT's solution team has selected a preferred route and the next step is the environmental study, he said. Funding is not yet available for this phase and the project exists as "a few lines on paper" at this point, said ODOT project information specialist Gary Leaming. 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.