To the Editor: Members of the Medford Garden Club feel the proposal to build an elevated freeway for Highway 99 along the east side of Bear Creek over and through Hawthorne Park is very alarming to all people who have worked for the park and who love and enjoy its beauty and restful facilities.
    The park is located along the east side of Bear Creek, which gives it a natural setting. Bear Creek will be cleaned up and improved someday, which would enable it to be utilized to its full capacity. Unquestionably, the locating of a freeway along the east side of Bear Creek will to a large extent destroy this natural setting.
Excerpt, Medford Mail Tribune, March 27, 1955, page 4   A similar letter was sent by the Phoenix Garden Club.

Medford Mail Tribune, April 18, 1955, page 4




(Minutes of a Public Hearing by Oregon State Highway Commission on October 25, 1956, relative to routing of a proposed interstate highway through Medford,
Oregon)
    Pursuant to formal notice heretofore given, the mayors of the cities of Medford, Ashland, Central Point, Phoenix and Talent, the State Highway Commission conducted a public hearing at 10:00 a.m. this date in the Auditorium of the Craterian Theatre, Medford, relative to the Commission’s plans to construct a new freeway that will bypass each of these cities, extending with a connection of the existing route of US 99 at a place known as Seven Oaks, approximately two miles north of the City of Central Point, to a connection with the existing route of said highway at a point approximately and one-half miles southeasterly from the corporate limits of the City of Ashland.
        There were about 500 people present representing the cities affected by the proposed improvement.
    Chairman Chandler called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. and explained the
purpose of the hearing. At his request, the state Highway Engineer, Mr. W C. Williams, explained details concerning the several routes that have been investigated as follows: Hillcrest Route, Genessee Street Route, Hawthorne Park Route, and West Medford-Oak Grove Route. He exhibited a map on which was shown in colors the locations of each of these routes. He pointed out that the Hillcrest Route is common with the Genessee Street Route and Hawthorne Park Route from Blackwell Hill to a connection with the Crater Lake Highway at which point the routes diverge, the Hillcrest Route bypassing the City of Medford about two miles to the east and continuing southerly to a connection with the Genessee Street Route just north of Ashland. The Genessee Street Route and the Hawthorne Park Route, he said, are alternates that pass through the city of Medford, and the West Medford-Oak Grove Route commences at Blackwell Hill and extends southerly to a connection with the Genessee Street line opposite the City of Talent, bypassing the cities of Central Point and Medford to the west. He mentioned that all of the routes investigated are approximately the same length, the Hillcrest Line being 25.67 miles long, the Genessee Line 25.75 miles long, the Hawthorne Park Line 25.68 miles long, and the West Medford-Oak Grove Alternate Line 25.36 miles in length, compared with 23.72 miles, the length of the existing highway between common points. He estimated the cost of constructing each route as follows: [The first three routes were approximately the same cost, around $18.5 million; the last one $22.5 million.]
    [Representatives of the Fruit Growers League, Medford Irrigation District, Talent Irrigation District, Rogue Valley Traffic Association, and the country agriculture and horticulture agents spoke in favor of the Bear Creek route and against the Hillcrest route as being disruptive to irrigation and taking more orchard land out of production. Otto Frohnmayer reported that Medford hotel, motel, restaurant operators and auto dealers were opposed to the Hillcrest route due to its anticipated effect on business. The County Engineer and Medford City Manager spoke against the Hillcrest route due to the cost of improving Barnett as an access route. The mayor of Phoenix, a county judge and representatives of the Chamber of Commerce spoke in favor of the Bear Creek route. The mayor of Medford, representing the city council, reported that the city council had no recommendations to make as to route. The chairman of the board of directors of Rogue Valley Memorial Hospital, then under construction, spoke against the Hillcrest route. Nine other individuals spoke, mostly against the Bear Creek route.]
    Mr. C. W. Reames, attorney, Medford, headed a group that opposed the Bear Creek
Route. He presented petitions signed by 554 property owners in which the Commission is asked to not place Highway 99 on the Genessee Street or Geneva Street location because of the detrimental effect on the city of Medford, in which they gave as their opinion that the highway should be located either to the east or to the west of Medford, with access roads connections provided for those who wish to enter the city. He alleged that if the highway were routed through Medford it will ruin their city.
Excerpted from the Oregon Department of Transportation web site. The entire transcript is available here.

    Huge machines tear great chunks of earth from the ground--others pull it from one place to another--still others smash it flat.
    Some machines rip tangled masses of dirty black underbrush from the soil and toss it effortlessly on large piles. A man in a steel helmet puts a match to them and columns of grey smoke rise over the city.
    The scene is looking north from the Jackson St. bridge at any time during the past month. For it is here that 50 men and as many great machines are tearing a long barren scar through the heart of the city.
    Nothing stands in their way.
Creek Looks Better
    But, even with the scar an oldtimer looking north will have to admit that Bear Creek looks better now than it has for a long time past.
    It won't be long before the scar is covered over with a four-lane band of pavement stretching from horizon to horizon.
    Interstate No. 5 will change the face of the entire city--most people hope for the better.
    Although completion of the freeway is still nearly two years in the future, the change is already taking place.
    New motels and restaurants are springing up almost overnight along the city's thoroughfares in anticipation of a considerable increase in Medford's tourist trade. More will come.
Boon to Valley
    Construction of the freeway itself is a boon to the valley economy through the purchase of local materials and the hiring of local labor.
    The chamber of commerce expects that the freeway will bring new industry to Medford.
Built in Three Sections
    The city planning commission is swamped with requests for zone changes near the freeway interchange sites.
    If all goes well the freeway may result in more jobs, more money and a growing city.
    There may be adverse effects too.
    Interstate No. 5 is being built in three sections in this area--from Seven Oaks Rd., north of Central Point, to Jackson St.; from Jackson St. to Barnett Rd.; and from Barnett Rd. to Valley View Rd., north of Ashland.
    A $3,032,472.80 contract to build the first section was awarded to Peter Kiewit and Sons Construction Company of Omaha, Neb., in November. Bids for the other two sections are scheduled to be open on April 1.
    Since their contract was awarded in November, Peter Kiewit and Sons have cleared most of the freeway route from Seven Oaks Rd. to the Jackson St. bridge, and are now preparing the roadbed in many places.
    Work is under way or completed on several structures, including overpasses at Upton Rd., Vilas Rd., Crater Lake Highway and Table Rock Rd. Work crews are preparing the approaches for the Medford Corporation private truck road overpass north of Crater Lake Highway.
Temporary Detours
    Two temporary detours have been erected--at Crater Lake Highway and Table Rock Rd. Traffic will be required to use these detours until the overpasses have been completed.
    Cement was being poured last week for a new Rogue River Valley Irrigation District dam, just north of the Jackson St. bridge. The old dam was in the way.
    A remark by a state highway department official last week that "progress is certainly evident" is almost an understatement.
Greatest Benefit
    Perhaps the freeway's greatest benefit to the valley at the present time is its help in relieving the local unemployment problem. Already, the contractor has hired 45 men to work on the freeway--of which 75 percent are local--and he plans to have hired 160 by the time the peak employment period is reached next fall.
    This is for the first section alone.
    Work on this section of the freeway is scheduled for completion in May, 1962. The contractor hopes to start the actual paving process by September.
Overhead Structure
    The middle section of the freeway from Jackson St. to Barnett Rd. will be an overhead structure. From Barnett Rd. through Ashland the freeway will again take to the ground.
    The right of way will generally follow the course taken by Bear Creek through the valley. O. D. Rawlins, right of way agent for the state highway department, feels the freeway will help considerably in the general beautification of the Bear Creek area.
    Tons of brush and a "terrific lot" of other unsightly area will be removed or covered up during construction, he said. Also much of the creek bed is being straightened to eliminate erosion and channel movement.
    As for that long grey mass of concrete itself--Rawlins said the state will attempt to make it look as nice as possible.
Landscaping Planned
    The sides of the freeway embankment will be planted with grass, and various other landscaping will be done along the freeway route. In Medford, the freeway will be fenced and lighted.
    All of the freeway right of way from Medford to Ashland has either been purchased or condemned. Another one-third of the right of way already has been obtained in Ashland proper.
    For the next year and a half, possibly longer, Medford and the Rogue Valley will have to put up with a lot of noise and inconvenience. It can't be helped. It is the end product that counts.
    But not everyone is in accordance on what the end product will be.
Support Damage Theory
    Some people say the freeway should have gone around the city instead of through it. They contend that it will do irreparable damage by cutting Medford in two. They might be right.
    Others argue that the economic benefits to be gained from having the freeway close at hand far outweigh the drawbacks. They may also be right.
    But one thing is sure--Interstate No. 5 is here, and it is here to stay.
Medford Mail Tribune, February 12, 1961, page 6