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Opening Medford's bottleneck Diverse group tries to fix traffic trouble By JIM DAVIS Paramedic George Duarte knows firsthand the problems with traffic at the Barnett Road interchange in south Medford. He's sat in his ambulance with siren blaring and lights flashing at the Mercy Flights station a few blocks from the interchange trying to get out of the driveway. "And we weren't able to," Duarte said. "There's no way those cars could stop to let us out." The Barnett interchange is one of the worse bottlenecks in the city -- with people using it to get on and off the freeway and to get from one side of town to the other. More than 33,000 cars and trucks drive through the intersection daily, causing backups, accidents and air pollution. But the traffic problems are just part of the picture. The south interchange affects the economic health of Jackson County and even dictates where the Rogue Valley is growing. Now, a wide array of people -- from city officials to state legislators and from private developers to bicycle advocates -- is working to solve the dilemma. THE PROBLEM The south interchange's inadequacy was highlighted last year by two major developments. First, the city came up with its unique Southeast Plan, which would build homes on more than 1,000 acres east of North Phoenix Road between Cherry Lane and Coal Mine Road. Then the Rogue Valley Manor proposed a major commercial development. The Oregon Department of Transportation said the interchange was failing and probably couldn't handle the traffic generated by those projects. Medford planning director Jim Eisenhard said the Manor's proposal caught people's attention. "I think that elicited some concerns from other property owners who feared that a large development -- anybody's large development -- would use up any remaining capacity," Eisenhard said. Oregon Transportation Commissioner Stuart Foster said the congestion at the interchange is tying up one of Medford's major untapped land reserves for homes in the southeast area. He said that's why developers are building homes in smaller, outlying communities such as Central Point or Eagle Point. Foster and Eisenhard said the building of homes in those communities is forcing people to drive farther and farther, aggravating the traffic problems of the entire valley. "Where do suppose most of the people work?" Eisenhard said. "Where do suppose they go to the doctor? Where do you suppose they go to shop? Do you suppose a good number of those people come to Medford, having traveled maybe 10 miles round-trip instead of one mile?" Foster said another problem with the interchange is its effect on businesses. Some of the Rogue Valley's major businesses are in south Medford -- Bear Creek Corp., Naumes Inc., Sabroso. If those businesses cannot expand here, there are no guarantees that they will stay in Medford, Foster said. "Everybody is just dead in their tracks out there right now," Foster said. Bear Creek Corp. -- which employs 11,000 people in its peak season -- has expanded its operations recently in California and opened a new call center in Ohio. Bill Ihle, Bear Creek spokesman, said traffic concerns were not the reason for those decisions. But he said traffic problems could influence business decisions in the future. "It certainly could be a business limiting situation -- for all businesses -- in this area soon," Ihle said. Mike Montero of KOGAP, a land development company in south Medford, said the traffic problems will do nothing but hurt businesses in south Medford. "If you need to grow your business and you can't grow your business, then you're faced with difficult decisions," Montero said. THE PROBLEM SOLVERS Last year, the city of Medford and the Medford Urban Renewal Agency came up with $1.5 million to pay for an environmental impact study to begin working out the interchange problems. ODOT organized the South Medford Interchange Solutions team, a unique group of planners and community members as well as people from special interest groups such as the Oregon Trucking Association. The team decided early that the interchange was actually the result of major problems in the city's overall street layout. Medford has few easy ways of getting from north to south and from west to east. Team members reasoned that making better ways to get around in Medford would alleviate problems at the interchange, said Frank Stevens, the project manager. This week, the team settled on seven maps showing different ways to improve the situation in south Medford. "It's some old ideas and new ideas that are being pulled together and looked at all together," Stevens said. Stevens said planners don't know whether any of those options will improve traffic or even whether they are affordable. The project options will be analyzed with computer modeling to predict their effect on traffic. "I want to emphasize that these maps are not much more than lines on paper," Stevens said. "We're just saying a connection needs to be made and this is just a rough guess as to where it might happen." THE BUCKS STOP HERE Traffic engineers have estimated that fixing the interchange and other streets in area will cost about $30 million. An informal agreement called the "15-5-5-5 plan" has been worked out under which the state would pay $15 million of the cost while the city paid $5 million, the Urban Renewal agency paid $5 million and private developers and businesses paid $5 million. But the money is anything but assured. Foster said that the south Medford interchange is the top priority for state improvement funds in the region and it's one of the top projects in the state. But the state Legislature -- currently in session -- hasn't come up with a gas tax to pay for road improvements. "If we don't get a gas tax increase, then I don't know how ODOT will come up with money," Foster said. Montero, who helped lead a group of private developers and business people, said that group proposed adding a surcharge to the city's systems development charge to raise its $5 million share. All new development in the city would then contribute. The plan is being reviewed by the city, but city officials have already expressed concerns because the city uses the fees to pay for its own projects. Don Burt, director of the Medford Urban Renewal Agency, said his agency could have trouble coming up with $5 million. He said the agency will spend three years paying for the $750,000 it spent on the initial study."You do the math," Burt said. "If it's going to take three years to pay $750,000, how long is it going take to pay for $5 million? "And what projects do you postpone to do that?" Funding matters aside, the road projects being considered would probably cause major problems for the people who live in the affected areas, traffic engineers said. Medford Councilman Skip Knight, who is part of the ODOT team, said at a meeting this week that political pressure has doomed past efforts to create better street systems in Medford. But he said traffic is one of the biggest concerns of city residents. "The political will is there to come up with traffic solutions," Knight said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA