Transportation System Plan 2018-2038

is the Evergreen Street project which would provide increased street connectivity in the downtown while adding on-street parking and pedestrian enhancem ents to serve com mercial and institutional developm ent on the east side of downtown. Medford in the 21st Century Vision Strategic Plan The Vision Strategic Plan is intended to fulfill the City ’s transportation vision statem ent. The vision statem ent describes Medford as being “served by a safe, accessible, efficient, and well planned transportation sy stem ”. This docum ent contains nine “com ponents” aim ed at m eeting the City’s circulation needs in the com ing decades. Within each com ponent are specific actions that lay out a blueprint for achieving transportati on-related goals and objectives. Th e com ponents listed in the Vision Strategic Plan include: • An efficient arterial street system provides north-south and east-west travel as well as alternatives to use of the freeway for local travel. • Shopping and work opportunities are close to neighborhoods. • Medford works in partnership with the region to provide frequent transit service with longer hours of operation and m ore passenger am enities. • The transportation sy stem is enhanced through a combination of planning, community education, secure funding and diligent im plem entation. • The com munity has access to com petitive freight and passenger rail service Highw ay 62 Corridor Solutions Project – North Medford Interchange Draft Environmental Assessment Overview The north Medford interchange is located at the junc tion of I-5 with Oregon Highway 62 (the Crater Lake Highway ) The interchange area presently experiences heavy traffic congestion during peak periods of the day . ODOT, in conjunction with FHWA and RVMPO, is proposing to im prove the traffic m ovem ent in the area by implem enting a num ber of m ajor roadway improvem ents. Overall guidance and decision making for this project is being provided by the Highway 62 Solutions Team , made up of individuals involved in the project from both the public and private sectors. In addition, a Citizen’ s Advisory Com mittee composed of residents, local business repr esentatives, and others potentially impacted by the proposed projects have provided input to the Solutions Team . The Environm ental Assessm ent (EA) prepared for this project was originally conceived as an Environm ental Im pact Statem ent (EIS) for the Highway 62 Corridor beginning at the I-5 interchange and continuing northeast to White City . Due to funding constraints, the project was reduced in scope to include only the Highway 62/I-5 interchange and the scope of environm ental analy sis changed from an EIS to an EA. Current Status The Highway 62 Corridor Solutions Project subm itted the North Medford Interchange Prelim inary Draft Environm ental Assessm ent (EA) in February 2001 for review by the project Study Com mittee. Upon completion of the final docum ent, designs will conti nue to be refined with construction scheduled to begin in the fall of 2003. After com pletion of the EA and identification of a preferred alternative, the RVMPO initiated a land use and transportation pl anning study for the Highway 62 corridor. The objectives of this study were: • To identify strategies that help ensure the l ong-term functioning of a potential new expressway parallel to and west of Crater Lake Highway ; • To develop design recom mendations for how Crater Lake Highway could eventually serve as a boulevard to better accom modate local travel , if a regional expressway is built; and Medford Transportation System Plan 2-16 Previous Work/Background Studies