Transportation System Plan 2018-2038

Angeles, California and Vancouver, B.C.5 Regional access to the FTZ is available from Highway 62 north of the interchange with I-5. Direct road access to the FTZ includes Com merce Drive, Vilas Road, Table Rock Road and the Medco Haul Road. Recently Vilas Road was widened to accom modate increased traffic, and Coker Butte Road is being ex tended west of Crater Lake Highway to service the vicinity of the FTZ. Truck traffic on roads in this area is consistent with the pattern of truck activity common in other industrial areas. In com parison with the dem and for truck freight m ovem ent on Interstate 5, air freight is currently a sm all percentage of total freight m ovem ent in the Medford area. It is anticipated that the airport and FTZ will have m inimal impact on the regional roadway system during the next few y ears. As operations in the FTZ grow and business interests increase, the adequacy of the existing surface transportation sy stem will becom e increasingly important to accom modate expect ed increases in cargo handling and associated truck traffic. A significant increase of cargo m oving in and out of this area could provide the im petus for developm ent of an interm odal sy stem for handling freight containers and trailers to increase the efficiency of cargo handling. It will be im portant to m onitor activities related to air freight and the FTZ during the next few y ears for future TSP updates. Non-Motorized Transportation Sy stem Bicycle Transportation System Although bicy cle facilities are located on several arteri al and collector streets in the Medford UGB, the majority of streets presently lack bicycle amenities. The facilities that do exist cover only a lim ited geographic area and, in m ost cases, are disconnected fro m each other. In addition, there is a general absence of connectivity between m ajor destinations such as schools and em ployment areas, as well as an absence of such am enities as bicy cle detection devices to facilitate travel through signalized intersections. Bicy cle facilities can generally be categorized as bicycle lanes, shared facilities including widened shoulders, and bicy cle paths (also known as multi-use paths). Bicy cle lanes are defined as that portion of a street that is designated by striping and pavem ent m arkings for the preferential or exclusive use of bicyclists. Shared facilities include locations where the bicyclist and the m otorist m ust share a travel lane, as well as roadway shoulders contiguous to a travel lane where space is shared by bicy clists, pedestrians, emergency use by vehicles and for lateral support of the roadway pavem ent section. Bicy cle paths are physically separated from the vehicle travel lane by an open space or barrier. A bicy cle path m ay be located within the roadway right-of-way or on a sep arate right-of-way . Bicy cle paths are also known as multi-use paths as they can be used by bicyclists, as well as pedestrians, joggers, skaters, and other non- motorized travelers. Figure 3-6 illustrates the location of existing bicy cle lanes and shoulders along m ajor city streets, as well as m ulti-use paths that can accom modate bicy cle travel within the Medford UGB. The City of Medford street inventory tables in Appendix A also catal og the presence of bicy cle facilities for each street segm ent, while Appendix C presents a list of street s with existing shoulders and m ulti-use paths. Medford’s current bicy cle sy stem plan dates to th e mid-1980’s. A draft docum ent partially updated the plan in 1998 to provide an inventory and assessm ent of the City ’s bicy cle circulation network. In addition to the inventory and assessm ent, the draft docum ent also contains a sy stem need analy sis and provides a full list of prioritized bicy cle facility improvem ents. A summary of these proposed improvem ents, as docum ented in the 2002 Regional Transportation Plan , is presented in Appendix F. Planned or proposed bicy cle sy stem improvem ents are illustrated in Figure F-1. An additional discussion of critical gaps in the existing bicy cle sy stem is presented in Chapter 10 in Figure 10-1. Some 5 Sout hern Oregon R egional Econom ic Devel opment, Inc., January , 2002. Medford Transportatio n System Plan 3-40 Existing Conditions