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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 20, 1960)
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER SB, I960 MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORD, ORE. Logging Railroad Will Close; Traffic Problem May Develop By GREG NOKES Mail Tribun. staff Writer ,The historic Medford corpo ration logging railroad will soon be no more. Plans are in the making to replace the railroad with a private truck road, and at least one agency uie cuy of Medford-is not too happy about it. The railroad has a colorful History dating back 50 vpar It was constructed in 1910 to transport timber from forests rear Butte Falls to Medford jumber mills-a distance in ex. cess of 30 miles. While the road has changed hands several times through the years it is still used for its original purpose of hauling logs. It is one of the last of many such logging railroads that once were common in Pacific Northwest forests. Freeway Construction Construction of the (lew freeway will necessitate re moval of the road. According to freeway plans, the railroad crosses the location of the Crater Lake highway inter change. Since it is incompatible with the interchange struc ture it would have to be relo cated. The state highway com mission, which would pay for the relocation, has said that it would be cheaper to construct a private truck road for Med co than it would be to relocate the railroad. It is not the truck road it eelf that has aroused the op position of Medford's city ad ministration, but it is the man ner in which the road will cross Highway 99. Overpasses Planned The state plans to build overpasses for the truck road at Biddle rd. and the new freeway. It plans to provide grade (level) crossings at Bul lock rd. and Highway 99. The truck road will cross Highway 99 approximately 320 feet north of the Crater Lake highway intersection. The road will be 30 feet wide and surfaced with crush ed rock or gravel. It will be owned by Medco and restrict ed for exclusive use by Medco logging trucks. These trucks will be oversized vehicles that are prohibited from using public highways. The maxi- I mum gross weight of the ve- nicies and loads will be 120, 000 pounds. By Medco's own estimates, there will be approximately 100 of these trucks using the road per day-60 coming and 50 going. Trips will be made only between the hours of 5:du a.m. and 5:30 p.m., which means there will be at least one crossing of Highway 99 every Vh minutes. Trucks Have Right of Way The city probably would not object if public traffic would have right of way over the private trucks at the cros sing. But, the contrary is true -the trucks will have the right of way over public traffic. Eye Level 'Poles' Aid Landing Pilot London - (Science Service) -A new flight indicator en ables the pilot of an aircraft to "watch" his flight instru ments without looking at them. It eliminates the po tentially dangerous period that occurs during landing when the pilot has to transfer his attention back and forth from instruments to visual flight. The indicator was develop ed to meet requirements of the British European Airways for instrument flight control equipment on their three-jet short-haul airliner, the Airco D.H. 121. The new system was de scribed to the International Air Trans port association meeting at Lucerne, Switzer land, by A.M.A. Majendie and K. Fearnside, research engi neers of Smiths Aircraft In struments, England, who worked on Its development. Tney reported that although aircraft instruments usually have to he viewed before in formation can be extracted from them, the required in formation can be seen "out of the corner of the eye" with the new indicators. In the sys tem three small "barbers' poles" painted black and white are used to provide in formation on the airplane's attitude. On the truck road, near the Highway 99 crossing, there will be an automatic signal ing device. When a truck nears the intersection it will trip this device causing a red light to flash on Highway 99, thereby stopping 99 traffic. It would, in effect, be the same as any other stop light. A maximum speed limit of 10 miles per hour has been set for the trucks while cross ing any public road or high way. Highway 99, at this point, will be reinforced so as to support the weight of the trucks. , There are two chief reasons why the city frowns on this set up. One, it doesn't like the idea of giving private traffic the right of way over public traffic. And two, it fears the frequent stops by public traf fic at the truck crossing will congest the Crater Lake high way intersection to the south which is already a bottleneck at times. Approval of the truck road is not yet a certainty. The ap plications, one by the state and one by Medco, have been submitted to the Public Utili ties commission and a decision by that body may yet be weeks off. However, the state highway commission is the agency that Ex-Civil Workers Review Proposals An "up-to-date view" of pro posed changes in the constitu tion and by-laws for the Na tional Association of Retired Civil Employees', Southern Oregon chapter, was present ed at a meeting Friday. Clarence G. Davis, Portland, president of the Oregon feder ation and one of the seven man committee presently re vamping the working methods of the organization, presented the proposed changes, some of which are to be voted upon by the chapters. Friday evening, Davis con ferred with former state fed eration president Clarence L. Williams, Ashland. Davis re turned to Portland Saturday, is carrying the ball on this proposal and at least one city official feels the PUC will merely "rubber-stamp" what ever the highway commission wants. Hearing Held The PUC held a hearing on the matter in Medford on Oct 21, at which time the city or anyone elsa was expected to voice its opposition. City Attorney Joel Reeder said, however, that the notice of the hearings was sent to the city only three days prior to the hearing Itself. It was the first time the city had heard of the Highway 99 grade crossing, he said. At the hearing, Reeder re quested additional time to file objections with the PUC. The hearing examiner granted the necessary time and a list of city objections were filed with the PUC on Oct. 26. 'Undesirable Situation' In the list of objections the city terms the right of way j priority of private trucks over public, traffic "an undesirable situation." The city suggests that the situation be remedied by constructing an underpass or overpass for the private road at Highway 99. In a rebuttal to the city's objections the slate highway commission said the under pass is not feasible due to the size of the trucks and the overpass would cost a mini mum of $50,000- which Is too much. It also contends that an overpass would restrict the movements of Medco trucks on the south side of the inter section and the overpass itself would restrict the view of southbound traffic entering Highway 99 from Table Rock rd. The state summed up Its objections to an under or over crossing with the statement that "any requirement for a separation of grade would in volve costs and objectionable features which are not justi fied." Several lesser suggestions have been made by the city which it feels would help pre vent potential traffic conges- tion Droblems. One of these is a suggestion to synchronize the truck crossing and inter sectional signals. In its rebut tal the state highway commis- Save Plenty During P're-Cfoiiiplay Jim's Big mm New Hours for Your Convenience WEEK DAYS 8 a.nvS paitii SUNDAYS 10a,m.-5p.m, Open Nights by Request Standard Gauge INLAID LINOLEUM Household Gauge INLAID LINOLEUM Sandran COUNTER TOPPING 3 Feet Wide (55 - Plastic WALL TILE 3. 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City Manager Robert A. Duff terms possible congestion as "likely." Average- Cars Per Day Medford Public Works Di rector Vernon Thorpe points out that in 1959 an average of 17,600 cars a day used Highway 99 where the cross ing is to be located. Upon completion of the freeway in early 1962, he said, only an estimated 2,000 of these cars will be diverted by the freeway. There will still be 13,600 cars using High way 99 at that point and this figure is subject to "normal annual increases." One of the things that Thorpe is most concerned about is when traffic having a green light off of Crater Lake highway hits a red light at the truck crosing. There is good chance, he said, that it would cause traffic to back up through the Crater Lake intersection. The state claims that the maximum time for which ve hicles could be stopped "be tween" the two signals would be 24 seconds and the mini mum interval allowed to cross the private road intersection would be 50 seconds. Commission Estimate The highway commission also estimates that north bound traffic entering High way 99 from Crater Lake highway "will not exceed 300 vehicles per day." Medco was not the origina tor or Hie private road idea and should not be blamed for any problems that might re- suit, according to the city administration. Both City Manager Duff and city Attorney Joel Reed er feel the state has promoted and backed the whole idea. and Medco is going along with it for the simple reason that it needs some way to net its logs across the highway to the mill. Comments by B. L. ffindi Nutting, general manager of Medco, tend to bear this out. Nutting said it doesn't really make much difference which Medco, has-the railroad or the truck road. He said the com pany probably would rather have the railroad because it is now one-quarter mile shorter than the truck road will be. Declines to Comment Nutting declined to com ment on the city's objections to the road and said that such comments should be left up to the state. He did say, how ever, that it probably will be much cheaper for the state to build the private road than relocate the railroad. The stale will pay for the relocated portion of the pri vate road from east of Bullock rd. to west of Highway 99. Medco will pay the cost of construction of the rest of the road to Butte Falls, which will follow, for the most part, the route now taken by the railroad. In turn for its payment for construction of a portion of the private road, the stale will acquire right of way from Medco needed for the free way. The private road also will cross Crater Lake highway near Eagle Point, at approxi mately the same place as the railroad now crosses. This also will be a grade crossing and probably will have the same signal setup as the one on Highway 99. Not City Matter Actually the Highway 99 crossing is not a city matter and the city can only voice Its objections to it. The highway is a state highway and the state has complete control and authority over what goes on there. Bui, if the consequences of the truck crossing are bad, and several city officials think they will be, the city does not want to be blamed for them. And, for this reason, the city administration has gone on record against it. The city's opposition is un official, having been voiced by members of the city admin istration and not the city council. To be official oppo sition the council would have to take action. Duff said the council has discussed the matter, but to his knowledge is not contemplating taking any action. mHdiday Special! DAMASK. HEMMED DINNER SEEg ; : of combed mercerized cotton, rayon damask 00 white, pink, ivory, yellow, aqua Penney'i works wonders for your holi day entertaining, you holiday gift-giving, at a fabulous low price! 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