Council to Seek Public Feedback on Main Street Restriping Project
Published on July 10, 2025
After receiving a report covering eight potential alternatives for the Main Street restriping project in downtown Medford, City Councilors have asked City staff to develop a public outreach plan for feedback on four of those alternatives.
The current layout was implemented in October 2023 to improve bicycle access, which was largely funded by a $475,779 Oregon Department of Transportation grant. In late 2024, Council directed staff to explore other configurations following community feedback and concerns.
Fifteen alternatives were presented to Council during a March study session earlier this year. In addition to reverting the striping back to its previous configuration, or leaving the existing layout as is, Council narrowed the potential alternatives to two additional options. Staff conducted further engineering analysis and presented findings to Council at the July 9 study session.
Alternative options presented:
Alternative 1: Previous Configuration
- Description: Return Main Street to its previous configuration—three lanes in one direction, with bikes sharing the right lane with vehicles.
- Cost: Estimated at $1 million
- Notes: Potential gain of 8 parking spaces with updated design standards; however, this option does not align with the current Transportation System Plan and does not meet widely accepted design guidance.
Alternative 2: Existing Configuration
- Description: Maintain the current configuration with no changes.
- Cost: $0
- Notes: No alarming crash patterns have been observed, and bike lane usage has been steadily increasing.
Alternative 3: Standard Bike Lane (One-way bike lane on the right)
- Description: Two travel lanes, parallel parking on both sides, and one bike lane on the right side of Main Street.
- Cost: Estimated between $580,000 to $1,055,000
- Note: The cost range reflects the potential repayment of state grant funds.
- Goal: Retain parking while providing a more traditional bike lane.
Alternative 4: Two-Way Travel with Bike Lanes
- Description: Reintroduce two-way traffic with one travel lane and one bike lane in each direction on both Main Street and 8th Street.
- Cost: Estimated at $10.7 million
- Impact: Would require major construction, would significantly change downtown’s layout, and analysis found that significant traffic delays and congestion would likely occur on Main Street and 8th Street near Central Avenue and Riverside Avenue.
- Goal: Restore two-way traffic while still accommodating cyclists and parking.
What’s Next?
City staff will develop and recommend a public outreach plan for Council to review and revise as needed.
The original Main Street configuration cost about $515,000, with over 90% funded by the state, and the future of its design remains a high-interest topic for both the Council and the community.