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If in the coming days you find yourself at a red light along Main Street in Medford behind a vehicle that stubbornly refuses to move when the light turns green, do yourself a favor — before honking the horn to get them moving, check to see if there’s actually a driver ahead of you.

If not, you’re probably idling in a parking spot.

Medford’s reconfiguration plan for Main Street went live this past week, as the previously three-lane passage was reduced to two between Bear Creek and Oakdale Avenue in order to accommodate a bicycle passage lane that runs closest to the curb.

The reworking was part of a $1 million makeover for Main Street that was passed by City Council in August. The hope is that adding the bike-only lane will both encourage alternative transportation downtown while improving safety for cyclists and drivers alike.

The jury, obviously, will remain out on those goals for some time to come — but one thing that has become immediately clear is that, at first glance, it will take some time to grow accustomed to the the “new” Main Street.

Main Street had been three lanes since the days when it was part of Highway 238, and far more vehicles traveled through the city. In 1970, for instance, 34,000 vehicles a day used Main Street. Current estimates show that number had fallen to around 10,000. 

Change on any level takes time accepting, but change involving ingrained habits — such as driving familiar streets — can shake us out of our normal patterns of behavior.

Based on an informal eye-test alone, we can see how the reconfiguration of Main Street might be disorienting.

Most jarring is the line of parking spots that are no longer adjacent to the sidewalk. When no bicycles are present in the new travel lane, parked vehicles can register at first to be simply another line of traffic.

The hypothetical example above — finding yourself behind a vehicle parked in the new “parking lane” — was based on the actual experience of a Rogue Valley Times employee who has driven along Medford’s Main Street for more than two decades.

It’s not difficult to imagine that same scenario has been or will be played out for others in the near future as drivers readjust their habits for navigating their way through downtown.

Changing driving patterns, particularly those long-established, challenges the attentiveness of those behind the wheel — and often, such reconfigurations are met with frustration and confusion.

We have seen this play out elsewhere, such as when “road diet” restrictions were imposed in Ashland and Phoenix or, more recently, when roundabouts made their way into well-traveled Medford intersections.

Unpopular at the time, and perhaps even still, such disruptions are now accepted as part of the driving routine. And, of course, driving in and around Medford continues to evolve — with the Foothill Road project well underway, a bike lane project for Riverside Avenue on deck, and a feasibility study for a third Interstate 5 interchange expected to be completed early next year.

As for Medford’s new Main Street, the best advice we can offer is to remain alert, adjust your routines accordingly, and if the car in front of you appears to be driven by The Invisible Man, safely merge back into traffic.