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69 °F Forecast | Road Cams Tuesday, September 28, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend September 14, 2004 Plan for delays during Central Point road work By BUFFY POLLOCK for the Mail Tribune CENTRAL POINT — Road work has begun near the city’s trademark Grange Co-op grain elevator, where Pine Street intersects Highway 99. The second phase of a project to rebuild Pine Street from Haskell through First streets will add turn lanes and sidewalks to the road and replace five railroad crossings with one. City officials expect the $1.6 million project to be wrapped up by late fall. The project will close the road between Haskell and Highway 99 this week from 9 each night until 6 the following morning, said Public Works Director Bob Pierce. "The intersection itself will be done at night," said Pierce. "During the day we’ll keep traffic down to two lanes at a time." "There will be some delays but we will not be closing the intersection during the daytime." Advertisement Plans include a new railroad crossing and new signals at Highway 99 and Pine to be funded by a state transportation grant. System development charges and gas taxes money totaling $400,000 will be used to fund additional work, including curbing, gutters and sidewalks. Improvements to the city’s main arterial were planned, Pierce pointed out, to complement other downtown revitalization efforts and plans outlined in the city’s "East Pine Street Corridor Study." Last fall, $600,000 of work was completed on portions of Pine between Haskell and Glenn Way, including new signals, sidewalks, curbs and gutters and widening of North Haskell and Pine near Mae Richardson Elementary School. That project also was funded with system development charges money. A third phase of the project will include redesign and improvements to areas of First and 10th streets. "Eventually, over the next few years, we’ll be rebuilding Pine Street down to Sixth," said Pierce. "It’s an old road that’s been there for a long, long time," he said. "Whenever we have a road like that, it will just continue to fail. ... They didn’t build roads then like they do now. This is Central Point extreme makeover." David Midtlyng, vice president of contracting for LTM Inc., which is completing the road work, said crews would attempt to minimize traffic impact. "It’s a pretty good size project, and it’s going to be a challenging project because it’s a very congested area," Midtlyng said. "There are only a few accesses across Highway 99 and the railroad tracks so those are important travel routes," he said. "We recognize that and will do our best to accommodate traffic while completing our contract." Detours this week will be marked directing motorists traveling east down Glenn Way to Beall Lane. Additional closures will take place Oct. 2-4 when railroad tracks are ripped up and replaced. Pine Street at the railroad tracks will be closed to traffic in the early hours of Oct. 2, Pierce said. Crews plan to reopen it around noon Oct. 4. In addition to replacing the Highway 99/Pine Street intersection, the city recently received a $500,000 grant from the state to help rebuild Laurel and Ninth, the city’s only unpaved street. Construction could start in the spring. Buffy Pollock is a free-lance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at [email protected]. Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities