Transportation System Plan 2018-2038

the developm ent; and call for private developm ent to make proportionate im provem ents and/or upgrades to existing facilities affected by traffic generated by new developm ent. Characteristics of the Medford Street Sy stem The street sy stem in the Medford UGB consists of a one- and two-way grid sy stem in the downtown and in the older urban core area located largely to the west of downtown. The City is bisected by Interstate 5, running in a northwest to southeast direction on the east side of downtown. There are two interchanges with I-5 that serve Medford; at Highway 62 at the north end of town (serving the airport, Rogue Valley Mall and other “big box” com mercial areas, and the north west industrial portion of the city ), and Barnett Road at the south end of town serving m uch of the city’s residential area, as well as the com mercial node located in the interchange area. On the east side of I-5, the City’s street system follows a looser grid pattern and is characterized by a lack of higher order streets (arterial and collectors) that provide connections for longer distance, north-south through trips from one part of the city to another. Foothills Road/N. Phoenix Road on the eastern edge of the UGB provides the only arterial street connection that links the southern and northern portions of the UGB east of I-5. A partial north-south arterial connec tion is provided by Crater Lake Avenue, but this street truncates at Main Street east of the downtown core. A partial north-south collector connection has been designated along the Highland/Sunrise/Springbrook corridor, but the segm ent of this route between Main and Jackson Streets has not been designated for a collector street function. Because of the lack of higher order street connectivity on the east side of town , traffic intrusion onto local streets is an identified problem . Better arterial and collector connections are available for east-west traffic on the east side of the UGB. The eastern portions of the UGB are also characterized by rolling topography and the street sy stem is influenced by this factor. Existing travel patterns within the Medford area focus on the m ajor activity centers within the city and on several m ajor travel corridors. Major activity cente rs include, but are not lim ited to such areas as the downtown core area, the Rogue Valley Mall, South Ga teway Center, Crater Lake Plaza, the com mercial strips along Biddle Road and Highway 99, and the airport area. Major travel corridors include Highway 99, Highway 62, McAndrews Road, Crater Lake Avenue, Barnett Road/Stewart Avenue, Colum bus Avenue/Sage Road, Foothill/North Phoenix Roads, Biddle Road, and Table Rock Road. Pending improvem ents to the South Medford interchange with I-5 will add Garfield Street to the list of major travel corridors within the city . Peak hour trip-m aking in the Medford area includ es a substantial num ber of com muter trips between work and hom e. However, commuter trips typically represent only a minority share of the total travel that occurs during peak periods. In com mon with m ost urban areas, the m ajority of peak hour travel in Medford also includes trips for shopping, day care, school, recreation and m any other purposes. This multiplicity of trip purposes m eans that while traffi c volum es are high in the m ajor corridors identified above, total travel dem and is spread throughout the com munity . This creates challenges not only for improving the roadway system to m eet existing and expected future dem and, but also for encouraging the developm ent and use of transportation m odes other than the autom obile. Summary of Needs and Street Sy stem Deficiencies Traffic Operations and Capacity Deficien cies at Signaliz ed Intersections This section focuses on identify ing future traffic operati ons and street sy stem capacity deficiencies within the Medford UGB. This analy sis was conducted as part of a study by the city to evaluate alternative level of service (LOS) standards. LOS standards will be u sed as the basis for identify ing deficiencies, requiring mitigation for land developm ent projects, and estab lishing a roadway mobility improvem ent program . Medford Transportation System Plan 5-3 Street Plan