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I-5 fix means change for Bear Creek Park By MELISSA MARTIN Mail Tribune The city plans to move a pedestrian bridge along Barnett Road so summer concert-goers can park by the Little League fields across the creek from the Bear Creek Park amphitheater. Relocating the bridge, paving a dirt parking lot by the ball fields and building Highland Drive sidewalks are projects the city plans for Bear Creek Park when the state builds a new Interstate 5 interchange in the near future. Highland advisory panel holds initial talks The newly formed Citizens Advisory Committee sub-team will meet for the first time on Monday to discuss pedestrian and bicycle issues along Highland Drive. Members of the sub-team were selected approved by the Oregon Department of Transportation following last month's decision to build a south Medford interchange. The goal of the sub-team is to help shape the design location for sidewalks and bike paths and address other issues, such as safe access to Bear Creek Park. CAC, and now its sub-team, provides input about the interchange project to the South Medford Interchange Solution Team. The solution team makes project recommendations to the state. Sub-team members include residents Ed Istel, Guy Tauer, Dr. Peter Noyes, Lucy Warnick and Darla Junkers. Jane Podolski represents the Eastside Neighborhood Association. Other members include Mike Montero, CAC member; Greg Jones, Medford parks director; small business owners Sallie Simpson and Tom Hawkins; Reeve Hennion, Solution Team member; Jani Hale, CAC member and vice-principal at South Medford High School; Alex Georgevitch of Medford Public Works; and Bill Moore, Medford City Council. The sub-team's first meeting The city hopes the Oregon Department of Transportation will pay for bike lanes on Barnett Road and sidewalks on both sides of Highland Drive - instead of the proposed single sidewalk. The city will likely foot the estimated $50,000 bill to move the bridge. "We've been concerned about people parking on Highland and walking to concerts at Bear Creek Park," said parks and recreation director Greg Jones. "People have been parking farther and farther away. If they park at the Little League fields and walk down to the pedestrian bridge, it would actually be closer." The state's $50 million south Medford interchange project that will begin next year will consume a corner of Bear Creek Park near the fenced dog run at the corner of Highland and Barnett. The new interchange will also take the portion of Bear Creek where the foot bridge is because Barnett will be wider at that point. And Highland Drive will become a major thoroughfare, with no street parking allowed. The interchange project will consume a corner of Bear Creek Park near the fenced dog run at the corner of Highland and Barnett. In addition, the state project will turn Highland Drive into a major thoroughfare, with no street parking allowed. That concerns the city's parks and recreation department, which presents free movies and concerts during summer weekends at the Bear Creek Park amphitheater. The 70-car parking lot next to the concert bowl fills up quickly and about 100 cars park on Highland Drive during special events. Staff members hope to persuade people to park on the other side of Bear Creek, using the ball field lots and walking across the pedestrian bridge that will eventually be moved from Barnett downstream to the north. "The lower part of the amphitheater was designed for that," said Tom Hilton, city recreation director. "There's a path that leads to the parking lot by the Little League fields." But if the state removes the traffic signal at Alba Drive and Barnett Road, drivers will have trouble getting out after concerts, said Councilman Jim Key. "When you've got activities in the park and we're asking people to park by the Little League fields, we have to have a way to get them out," Key said during a Thursday council meeting. "We have to keep the traffic light operable so we can get traffic in and out of there. Otherwise, we could have a police officer out there directing traffic." The park that's also popular for its BMX track, skate park, tennis courts and fort-like play structure has a master plan that calls for extending Spencer Street, a spur off East 12th Street east of I-5, to create a new access, Jones said. The master plans also calls for reworking the baseball fields into a star shape, which would add another diamond and increase parking capacity. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.