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I-5 may get repaved in four years By JOHN DARLING If it gets through the funding hoops, Interstate 5 from the north Ashland interchange to Medford�s 12th Street will get its first repaving in 2005. The $13 million project would be done at the same time plans call for major work to the south Medford interchange, which will cost $35 million. The interchange, now at Barnett Road, will be moved farther south to reduce congestion, tapping into either Highland or Ellendale drives on the east, and Highway 99 on the west. Disruption of travel will be minimized by using night shifts, detours to Highway 99 and trying to keep one freeway lane open, said ODOT project leader Debbie Timms. The projects are on the draft 2002-2005 Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) published by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). The draft plans will be discussed at a public meeting at 6:30 p.m. March 12 at the Smullin Center, Rogue Valley Medical Center. Regional STIP coordinator Mike Baker said the project would likely be ready for final approval by December after local, state and federal authorities and the public examine them. The repaving project between Ashland and Medford has already been trimmed from an earlier projection of $22.4 million by eliminating widening of bridges, said Timms, who will oversee the construction. "I think it�ll make it (through the budgeting process)," she said. The stretch of freeway has stood up without repaving since it was first built in the mid-1960s, she added. It will be repaved in warmer months from spring to fall in 2005 and 2006. Repaving and seismic retrofitting of downtown Medford�s I-5 viaduct will be done in 2003, Baker said. Federal funds will pay for about 90 percent of the jobs, he said. On the Web: www.smedfordinterchange.org / www.odot.state.or.us/region3public / www.odot.state.or.us/stip/search3.cfm Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.