If you’ve noticed more traffic congestion in east Medford than on the west side of town, you’re not mistaken.

A deficit of continuous major north-south streets makes it difficult to navigate east Medford. Also, much of that side of the city, developed from the 1950s to 1990s, has long block lengths, many cul-de-sacs and a disconnected grid of heavily used streets.

“As a result, this part of town experiences congestion at almost all key intersections,” an analysis by city staff found.

To improve and relieve many congestion issues, Medford City Council and the city’s Planning Commission Thursday discussed steps the city could take as it prepares for another growth spurt.

“The thing we recognize when we compare congestion on the east side versus the west side is those local streets are absolutely essential to maintain reasonable congestion,” said Matt Brinkley, planning director.

Improving existing local streets and ensuring any new developments have better street connections are among the goals.

Widening a major and often congested street such as Barnett Road isn’t practical, but many side streets could be improved to help take the load off major arteries.

In some cases, the city may have to fund some projects, such as bridges over creeks, to connect these smaller streets.

Brinkley cited the city’s recent contribution to build a bridge over a creek in the Stewart Meadows Village in southwest Medford as an example.

On the west side, the street system is generally laid out in a grid pattern and has less congestion overall.

On the east side, Biddle Road, a major north-south street, ends abruptly at Hawthorne Park, forcing motorists to turn right or left.

Crater Lake Avenue extends from Highway 62 and ends at East Main Street rather than continuing south.

Examples of other major roads that end abruptly include Murphy Road, Black Oak Drive, Highland Drive, Siskiyou Boulevard and East Main Street.

East-west streets, while generally more continuous than north-south streets, are still spaced fairly far apart in east Medford. Lone Pine Road, an east-west street, doesn’t connect with Crater Lake Avenue, but ends behind North Medford High.

The Planning Department has bumped into several recent issues with developments that underscore some of the tensions between developers and the city over completing connections for streets.

An 84-unit project in west Medford stalled while the developer and the city hashed out an agreement over extending Vick Lane from Meadows Street to West Eighth Street.

The $20 million New Spirit Village project is now underway, and the houses are being made with 3-D printed walls formed by a robotic technology that squeezes out a cement mixture from a nozzle to create walls.

While developers may be asked to complete some streets, the city might have to step in to complete the connection.

The city’s Transportation Commission is currently looking at ways to better connect some streets in the future.

“We acknowledge that we need to figure a way to fund these local street connections,” Brinkley said. “If we have a good system of local streets that are connected, that will address a lot of that problem.”

Medford recently expanded its urban growth boundary, which will open the door for more developments in the city.

Brinkley said the city will be looking at these new developments to make sure they have a good internal street system to relieve some of the pressure on arterial streets.

He said the lack of good connections on local streets in the east side forces more traffic onto major roads such as Barnett.

Medford is also experiencing considerable congestion at the two Interstate 5 interchanges.

Plans are in the works to add a second right turn lane at the bottom of the I-5 south Medford interchange to ease congestion as motorists get off the freeway and try to make a right turn onto Barnett Road.

Foothill Road is currently being widened to help provide another major thoroughfare through the city.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify plans to add a second right turn lane at the bottom of the south Medford I-5 interchange where it meets Barnett Road.