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Feeling Overlooked Highland neighbors say they were shut out of the I-5 interchange decision By MELISSA MARTIN Mail Tribune East Medford residents who opposed a decision linking a proposed south Medford interchange with Highland Drive said the deck was stacked against them in their efforts to protect neighborhoods. "They created a committee set up to protect certain people and leave others out in the cold," said John Pearson, a member of the Eastside Neighborhood Association of Medford. "People who are inconvenienced by the new interchange got the short end of the stick and were not represented on the committee." Neighbors' report says Highland is no solution Among the concerns of the Eastside Neighborhood Association is an increase in potentially dangerous intersections. Outlined in a 33-page report submitted to the Oregon Department of Transportation, the issue is one to which the group would like a state response. Members Ted Hass and John Pearson wrote the report and submitted it Jan. 10. Pearson used a federal law requiring government documents be open to the public to get a copy of ODOT's traffic study. Using the state's numbers, he made charts showing how a new south Medford interchange connecting Garfield and Highland streets is not a permanent solution to traffic bottlenecks on Barnett Avenue. "Instead of having one Medford intersection ranked among the top in the region needing attention, we'll have seven problem intersections," said Pearson, who holds a doctorate in chemistry and is a former National Institute of Health fellow. For example, ODOT lists the intersection at Barnett and Riverside 91 percent filled to capacity during rush hour, on a scale of 90 percent failing to meet state standards and 100 percent being gridlock. By 2020, even with the new interchange in place, Barnett and Riverside will be at 111 percent capacity and at 139 percent capacity by 2030. The same is true for Black Oak and Barnett, which is now at 77 percent capacity. It will reach 107 percent capacity 13 years after the interchange is built, 109 percent by 2030. "The volume to capacity ratio for these intersections does not meet state standards and will not in 2030," Pearson said. "The South Medford interchange is a project designed to fail." Medford surgeon Peter Noyes and 30-year Highland area resident Barbara Griffin also signed the report. Not only were residents along the new route left off a Citizens Advisory Committee, but they claim the Medford City Council failed to listen to neighborhood concerns and therefore is spending $15 million on a project that is doomed to fail, said member Ted Hass. Association members have talked about fighting the city's support of the Oregon Department of Transportation's $50 million project, by petitions for referendum or recall. "I think the city of Medford got took by ODOT," said Hass, a natural resource specialist. "It's a Band-Aid solution that's being railroaded through." City Councilman Skip Knight - a member of the interchange solutions team for the past three years - said the new interchange is only one piece of a traffic solution puzzle. "That's the reason the city of Medford is working on road projects in that grid area, to try to alleviate some of that stuff," said Knight, in his eighth year on the council. "You can't have an interchange by itself and have it solve all the problems. This is one piece of a big puzzle." Other puzzle pieces, he said, include fixing the Fern Valley interchange at Phoenix, connecting North Phoenix and Foothill roads and, eventually, building a new interchange at South Stage Road. Pearson claims the opposition to the neighbors' wishes was so great that a Freedom of Information Act request had to be filed to get an ODOT consultant's traffic study. The new interchange - scheduled to be constructed in 2005-07 - would connect to Garfield Street at Highway 99 on the west side of Interstate 5 and to Highland Drive at Barnett on the east side. The existing interchange would be eliminated. Neighbors fear the new interchange alignment will dump significantly more traffic onto their residential streets. And they say they are angry at the state and the City Council for failing to hear their voices. But Jon Deason, chairman of the Citizens Advisory Committee, said they were not ignored. "We read all the written testimony," he said. During the Tuesday meeting in which the final recommendation was made, he held up a stack of papers six inches thick to illustrate his point. "We don't shut anybody out - the foes of the solution were heard and their concerns are valid and will be addressed," said Patrick Cooney, ODOT's deputy director of communications in Salem. Cooney is manager of the Oregon Transportation Commission, which approved $14 million for the south Medford interchange during a Salem meeting in early January. "There are traffic issues in that neighborhood that pre-date the interchange project," said Commissioner Stu Foster, a Medford attorney. "Now is a good time for ODOT, the city and the neighbors to work together to look at the issues and mitigate the impact." "We don't want tons of traffic moving through old neighborhoods," Cooney said. "It's a complicated problem and there are no simple solutions anymore. We never please everyone. We hear from every corner of the state, both rural and metropolitan, I-5 corridors and non-I-5 corridors. Some folks want development, others don't." Pearson and other Eastside Neighborhood Association members pleaded their case earlier this month during a commission meeting in Salem. Commissioner Gail Achterman suggested that ODOT and the city of Medford form an "interchange management team" to mitigate the impact of freeway traffic entering the Highland neighborhood. ODOT said it plans to create a subcommittee of the Citizens Advisory Committee to find ways to slow or reduce traffic near Bear Creek Park, as well as homes and apartments along Highland. The Eastside Neighborhood Association hopes to be part of it, said Barbara Griffin, a 30-year resident of the Highland Drive area. "We want a place at the table to have a hands-on opportunity to voice our concerns," Griffin said. ODOT: Panel members represent wide range The movers and shakers in the process of selecting a south Medford interchange option - the Citizens Advisory Committee and the Solution Team - were selected to represent a spectrum of interests, said Frank Stevens, ODOT project manager in Medford. When Stevens formed the Solution Team - which made the final recommendation of the Highland option - he first asked for representatives from jurisdictions that would be impacted by the new route, the city of Medford and Jackson County. Stevens said he then selected someone to represent motorists, Robin Marshall, local manager of the Automobile Association of America; someone to represent truckers, Jim Oldland, the local president of Oregon Trucking Association; and someone to represent the business community, Mark McQueen, a consultant selected by the Medford Chamber of Commerce. The Solution Team also includes Scott Chancey, planner with Rogue Valley Transportation District, Dan Moore of Rogue Valley Council of Governments, Medford City Councilman Skip Knight, Mike Burrill, a real estate developer and owner of Burrill Lumber, and Reeve Hennion, who lives in the Applegate Valley. Two state and one federal highway official also serve on the team. ODOT paid the Rogue Valley Council of Governments to put together the 12-member Citizens Advisory Committee. RVCOG sent out hundreds of letters and received 80 applications, said John Morrison, community development project manager. He chose several "stakeholders," including Tim Alford, president of the Rogue Federal Credit Union that could lose property because of the new interchange, as well as Mike Mahar, a developer in the Southeast Plan along North Phoenix Road, and Mike Montero, a developer with KOGAP's industrial park on Stewart Avenue, two projects on hold until interchange traffic flows improve. Other members include ACCESS Inc. director Patty Claeys, representing concerns of lower-income people, Ashland resident and retired attorney John Ferris, who owns property in the interchange area, and South Medford High School vice principal Jani Hale, representing students who walk to Barnett Avenue restaurants for lunch. "When we were narrowing down the decision, we created a matrix, drew a grid and put names on the board," Morrison said. "We wanted the spectrum of representation and a wide array of interests." Reach reporter Melissa Martin at 776-4497, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.