A little more than two-thirds of the way into a 21-month downtown improvement project that started in November 2022, state and city officials can begin to envision what awaits when the heavy machinery leaves town.
Local business owners and residents as well as motorists who regularly drive through the corridor also probably can’t wait for the sun to set on the $18 million effort that promises a brighter downtown, paved roads and increased safety.
Says Chris Workman, Philomath’s city manager, “We just keep looking forward to having it all done and how nice it’s going to be to have the construction gone.”
The Downtown Safety and Streetscape Improvements Project has experienced minor delays but appears to be moving along on schedule, the Oregon Department of Transportation said.
“We hope to really have most of that work wrapped up in late summer,” said Mindy McCartt, who serves as ODOT’s public information officer for the region that includes Benton County.
The project will advance into the final phase late this spring and into summer with the resurfacing of streets.
“The road repairs and the replacing will commence in late spring of this year and continue throughout the spring and summer … that is weather dependent,” McCartt said.
The project is limited to Main Street from Seventh to 14th and Applegate Street from Seventh to 15th.
“The project is seeing a slower pace than we initially anticipated,” McCartt said. “Ultimately, the contractors manage the schedule and so there are things that we can’t even predict and the contractors can’t even predict, whether it’s sick time, vacations, holiday seasons and all of those things. So there have been some minor delays — they haven’t significantly impacted the timeline though.”
Corpac, an Oregon-based highway and heavy construction company, is the project’s lead contractor.
Currently, work continues to focus on the bones of the project.
“It’s just like building a house,” McCartt said. “If you don’t have a strong foundation, that finish work isn’t going to last for very long.”
The original concept, Workman said, was to finish construction on Main Street and then pave that stretch before shifting to Applegate Street but circumstances led that to not happening.
“I think there’s a little disappointment in that the timing didn’t work out for us to do some paving on Main Street over the summer,” Workman said. “It’s just busy — all of the construction companies are busy including the pavers and so being able to line that up didn’t work.”
The project did a pivot toward sidewalk and curb work, including bulb-outs, on Applegate Street and prepping the area for how the landscaping will go in.
“In the initial conversations we’ve had with the contractor and with ODOT, more than likely they will have more than one crew working this year,” Workman said. “So they’ll have more people on site, more flags, more cones, more moving around. It won’t just be like one area that they’re working in, it’ll be multiple areas.”
The contractor is currently working on completing the installation of a new drainage system and concrete-related pedestrian features.
“This winter, we’re focusing primarily on that concrete work across the project and completing the underground drainage, especially along Applegate,” McCartt said. “Drainage has been the big push because that’s going to drive the rest of the project.”
The concrete work involves the installation of sidewalks, driveways and new ramps that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“While all of that’s going on, they’re also working on irrigation and implementing the new illumination systems that are going in throughout the project — the wiring under some of those sidewalks needs to be put in place — so that’s all happening this month,” she said.
The project has been focused on Applegate but McCartt said the plan was to shift to Main Street late this week.
As far as the “illumination” components of the project, McCartt said a new signal will be installed at 13th and Main — the intersection that includes Pioneer Connect, Citizens Bank, the Dizzy Hen and Dirt Road Brewing. Other existing traffic signals will receive technology updates.
Additionally, new flashing beacons will be installed at two pedestrian crossings — Seventh and Main and 14th and Applegate — to alert motorists.
The project also features bulb-outs to increase pedestrian visibility and shorten the distance across the street. Last year, one that had been installed at Main and Seventh had to be modified but McCartt said that was an isolated situation.
“There was a lot of public requests that it needed to accommodate larger vehicles for that turning space,” McCartt said about the bulb-out at Main and Seventh. “So we did modify that one but we’ve had no other issues with the bulb-outs that have arisen on any of the others to date.”
Chelsea Starner, assistant city manager, has been staying in touch with the business community and the local chamber and those lines of communication will intensify in the coming months to make sure everyone is aware of the schedule.
“That’s so all of our business owners and their customers know when there’s going to be construction in the area, where the detours are, how they can get to the businesses still and make sure those pedestrian accesses are still open,” Workman said. “It’ll be tricky but we knew it was going to be tricky and it’s going to look terrific when it’s done.”
Starner said most business owners have been very patient and are excited to see the project completed.
“We try to remind business owners that if they do have questions or concerns that they can come to us,” Starner said. “Sometimes we actually do have the ability to work with the contractor to shift something.”
For example, Starner said ODOT was able to meet with the contractor about moving off a particular area on the street so a business could have a special weeklong event that had been planned.
“Everyone has been really great for the most part,” Starner said. “Residents and businesspeople are being patient. I think that they have the groove of the way that the traffic is flowing now, which at first was a little bit to get used to.”
One of the issues that Workman has been hearing about most often recently involves elevation changes between sidewalk and street. For example, significant grade changes can be seen in certain spots from where a new curb was poured and the existing roadway.
“So there are concerns like is the highway really going to drop down that low or is there going to be some weird steps or something?” Workman said. “And the answer is yeah, the highway really is that high right now and it will be brought down that low. So essentially, what you’re seeing for these curbs that are being poured, that is going to be the grade of the highway where you’re seeing it.”
Workman mentioned two spots where steps are needed — Main and 10th and in another spot a little to the east.
“There’s some steps in there but outside of those two areas, where residents and business owners are seeing that new curb installed, that is going to be the grade of the highway coming through at that area,” Workman said. “So that’s a big change. We get a lot of questions about that because it looks so stark, it’s such a big difference.”
As the work continues, Workman said it will all come into focus.
“Once they start pulling that old material out and they bring in the new material to lay down, it’s going to look terrific,” he said. “It’s just having that vision of what it’s going to look like.”
The Philomath City Council on Monday night approved the formation of a new committee to focus on housing and economic development.
“Some of the bullet points of the items they’re going to be looking at are directly related to renewing the downtown area and getting some new businesses in there and looking at parking situations and all of those things that are just going to continue to make Philomath a destination for folks on a Friday and Saturday night,” Workman said.
Part of the equation will be to have somewhere for motorists to park.
“As we attract more retail businesses and restaurants, we know that demand for parking in the downtown is going to increase and so we’re trying to be proactive and be ahead of that curve by looking at redoing paving and striping on 12th Street and eventually 11th Street and 10th Street and working our way down,” Workman said. “So, nothing specific yet, but we do have plans to continue to add parking in the downtown area.”
An information kiosk will be installed at Main and 13th once all of the heavy equipment leaves the area. A contractor will install pavers in the location and then the city will come back afterward and install the kiosk, Workman said.
The “finish work” includes the addition of a two-way bicycle track on the south side of Applegate Street between 13th and 15th streets to provide connectivity to the downtown and as part of the “Corvallis to the Coast” bike route. Concrete curbs will be added to further protect bicyclists.
The visuals that bring the project into focus will also occur near the end.
“The landscaping, the park benches and trash cans and all of that stuff is the cherry on top and that jewelry at the end of an outfit,” she said.
One part of the project to be determined at the city level relates to art to be featured in the downtown area and how that process plays out.
“I see that project kicking up so that when the streetscape project is done, we’ve got a program in place to start trying to attract art into the down area, which is exciting,” Workman said.
As spring approaches and more and more visitors begin to pass through town, Workman said the city plans to approach Corpac to discuss additional safety measures, such as additional signage, using readerboards in place or other methods to get the attention of drivers.
“We just don’t want (local) drivers to get complacent but mostly I’m concerned about folks from out of town that are passing through,” Workman said.
McCartt said the project has been moving along well with ODOT’s partnership with the city of Philomath as well as the patience seen among local businesses and community members.
“It’s really hard to manage a project that is literally upsetting every resident and business in the town,” McCartt said. “But they know and most people know that balancing that expensive improvement project, we know it’s going to impact the entire town. So maintaining the infrastructure of the city and the flow of business requires that cooperation and we’re so grateful for the collaboration between the city and the business owners. It’s been good to keep that communication flowing.”
As far as that timing element, the ODOT contract calls for the project to be wrapped up by the end of this summer.
“Unless they ask for extensions — and extensions come with penalties — it’s in everybody’s best interest to have it done by the end of the summer,” Workman said.
