Benny Westcott
At its Oct. 12 meeting, the Sweet Home City Council heard a pitch from Oregon Department of Transportation representatives on an intergovernmental agreement between the city and ODOT. If approved, the agreement would allow ODOT to move forward on a project to update curb ramps on Main Street (U.S. Highway 20) and State Highway 228 to meet current American with Disabilities Act standards.
The project would also incorporate pedestrian crossing improvements at the Main Street and 22nd Avenue intersection in the form of a “pedestrian refuge,” or “island,” with a user-activated flashing beacon.
Present to hear the pitch were Mayor Greg Mahler, as well as councilors Dave Trask, Angelita Sanchez, Diane Gerson, and Susan Coleman. Due to illness, Dylan Richards and Lisa Gourley were not present.
Community and Economic Development Director Blair Larsen’s written request for council action stated, “Over the past several years, the city has dealt with several complaints and requests to make the intersection … safer for pedestrians.”
Recently, Sanchez reached out to Representative Jamie Cate and Senator Fred Girod to request project funding. The ramp improvements were eventually added.
Design and construction will not require city funding; ODOT will pay for that. Future maintenance and electricity, however, will be the city responsibility, as per the agreement. The City of Sweet Home currently pays for lighting along Main, and city staff estimate that the flashing beacon will cost no more than a typical street light.
“I am so thankful, and I can’t wait until it’s completed. I’ll be so happy. Thank you for doing it for us,” Sanchez said, addressing ODOT representatives Brennan Burbank and Christine Hildebrandt, who spoke at the meeting.
“I am excited we are finally getting to it,” Mahler said. “I think it’s pretty cool.”
According to Burbank, ODOT has completed the project’s designs and specs. He expected the agency to solicit bids in December and begin construction in March 2022. He added that the effort would upgrade a significant number of curb ramps. At its completion, Burbank said, some 235 ramps will have been installed throughout town.
Hildebrandt outlined another upcoming ODOT project: the construction of sidewalks from 53rd Avenue to “just east” of 60th Avenue, as well as two crossings on 48th and 49th. She said that a contract would be awarded in early January 2022, with a contractor surveying the site by March. Work is scheduled to conclude that fall, when, Hildebrandt added, necessary tree-clearing for the project would also take place.
In related business, ODOT approved the city’s application for a railroad crossing at 24th Avenue. Larsen later told The New Era that the crossing was important because it crossed the 153-acre former Weyerhaeuser mill site owned by the county. The city’s property beyond, the 220-acre former Knife River (Morse Bros.) rock quarry, is the long-proposed future home of the Oregon Jamboree.