Medford council votes to revert Main Street to prior three‑lane configuration after heated debate

The Medford City Council voted Jan. 21 to return Main Street between Oakdale Avenue and the connection to 8th Street to its previous three‑lane configuration after a lengthy staff presentation, public comment and hours of council debate.

Councilor Kevin Keating moved to revert the street to the earlier layout; Councilor John Quinn seconded the motion. The roll call initially produced a split vote among councilors; the mayor cast the deciding vote in favor of reverting the street.

Staff presented four options during the meeting: reinstating the original three‑lane layout; retaining the current two‑lane configuration with a separated two‑way bike track; a two‑lane layout with buffered bike lanes (staff’s recommended Option 3); and a two‑way street option. Dan Worth, the city’s public works director, told the council that ODOT had confirmed the city would not need to repay the BUILD grant if it adopted the buffered‑bike option, and that plans could be finished in the spring with striping completed by fall if a change were ordered.

The debate focused on competing priorities: business owners and many residents urged returning to three lanes to restore curb‑parking norms and perceived downtown access, while other councilors and cycling advocates argued buffered bike lanes and narrowed vehicle lanes improved multimodal safety and slowed traffic. Staff emphasized trade‑offs including the roughly $1,000,000 estimated cost to switch back to three lanes and impacts to other capital projects if those funds were reallocated.

During public comment, downtown business owners described customer confusion and low bike‑lane usage; one owner, Matthew Root, said the current layout had not encouraged his customers to bike to shops. Other speakers including cycling supporters urged the council to preserve protected bike space and pointed to speed and safety benefits observed since the earlier reconfiguration.

Councilors weighed public survey results — staff said the city’s online survey had roughly 4,004 respondents with about 1,937 favoring a return to the prior configuration — and multiple technical points from traffic staff, including average daily traffic counts and speed measurements. Engineers on staff said typical lane capacity and recent counts meant a two‑lane configuration could technically handle current volumes, but several councilors argued that the downtown experience and merchant feedback warranted restoring three lanes.

With the council split on both policy and political grounds, the mayor’s tie‑breaking vote carried the motion to return Main Street to its prior configuration. Councilors and staff indicated the city will follow standard procurement and scheduling procedures to implement the change and will communicate timing to affected businesses and the public.

Next steps: staff told the council they could finalize plans in the spring and complete striping by fall if the council directs implementation, subject to budgeting and any required procurement steps.