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Downtown Medford gets new signal posts By JIM DAVIS Downtown Medford is losing some slouching reminders of its past. Construction crews began this week replacing the decades-old light posts that held aloft the traffic signals at the intersection of Main Street and Central Avenue, said Mike Webber of the Medford Urban Renewal Agency. "They're ready to fall over," Webber said of the posts. "They're some of the oldest poles in the city of Medford from what I understand." The contractor -- Reed Construction of Eagle Point -- will put up verde green decorative signal posts for the intersection. It's part of Urban Renewal's overall goal to update and restore utilities for the city's downtown core, Webber said. Other key intersections will receive newer signal posts in the future -- usually coinciding with other projects such as sidewalk work, Webber said. The traffic signal is just part of this project: The contractors also will place all overhead power lines underground and brick the sidewalk. They will also flare the curbs outward to shorten the crosswalks, much like the curb at the corner of Vogel Park. Webber said no parking spaces will be lost and the curbs will not extend into traffic lanes. The large metal signal box at the edge of Vogel Park will be replaced with a smaller attached to one of the poles. The project will cost $155,000 and should be finished by Sept. 10, Webber said. The corner where U.S. Bank is situated will be remodeled later for two, Webber said: Urban Renewal needs to leave the designated right-hand turn lane in place, and the bank's underground parking lot comes to the edge of sidewalk, creating an engineering problem. "If you drilled a hole right now and tried to put a pole in it, it would fall through," Webber said. Urban Renewal eventually wants to make Central a two-way street. That would reduce traffic, and a designated turn lane wouldn't be needed. Then the curb could be flared out and the work could be performed. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA