Following the completion of the couplet in 2008, the possibility of a new and improved downtown Philomath started to take on a practicable tone with various individuals envisioning streetscape features that ranged from crookneck streetlights to ornamental plantings to an information kiosk on the corner of Main and 13th.
Sixteen years later under a shelter set up in the middle of 13th Street to keep folks dry on a rainy Friday afternoon, city and state officials along with their many project partners and collaborators celebrated the project’s completion.
Gallery: Philomath Downtown Safety and Streetscape Project Celebration (Nov. 1, 2024)
A collection of photos from the Philomath Downtown Safety and Streetscape Project celebration and ribbon-cutting on Friday.
“For me, this is a dream come true,” Philomath City Manager Chris Workman said. “This is one of these once-in-a-lifetime projects. What we’ve done here in Philomath is going to stick for generations. … It’s going to improve and get better and better and better.”
Workman felt it would only be right if everybody in attendance could be a part of a celebratory ribbon-cutting. So with Assistant City Manager Chelsea Starner holding a pair of oversized scissors and Mayor Chas Jones keeping the ribbon taut for a clean cut, everybody crowded beside and behind them to share the moment.
“It really warms my heart to see all of you out here and the bits of contribution that each of you have made,” Workman said. “For those who are just joining us now, that’s great, you get to celebrate with us but just know either somebody to your right or to your left has been working on this and planning this and waiting for this for a very, very long time. So, just a congratulations to you all.”
Formally known as the Downtown Safety and Streetscape Improvements Project, the effort started to pick up steam in 2009 with the completion of a downtown design and business inventory. Two years later, the city hired a design engineer and a series of stakeholder meetings started up. But the project hit a wall in 2014 when the city failed to secure a key federal transportation grant.
In 2016, the city received word from the Oregon Department of Transportation that it had funding for the project. As part of the project’s revival, the city organized a stakeholders meeting in March 2017. That evening, longtime resident Carole Richardson said, “We’ve lived here for 30 years and a discussion like this has been on everyone’s lips ever since we’ve lived here — if only they would fix up the downtown.”
Another resident, former mayor and longtime city volunteer, Dale Collins, told the group, “I guess I was hoping this would happen in my lifetime.”
At the time, the projected completion date was September 2019.
Of course, the timeline didn’t work out and things began to not get real serious again until 2020 with a renewed effort to collect community feedback that led up to the signing of an agreement with ODOT for full funding of the project. In the following months, committees made design decisions and project meetings moved the process forward toward construction.
In 2022 after engineering had been completed and the bidding process played out, the project broke ground in late November. ODOT reports the cost of the project at $18 million.
For most of the past two years, downtown businesses and local residents have been forced to endure the inconveniences and hardships of such a significant project. Not all businesses made it through to the other side and the locals began to wander if it would ever be finished.
“As you can imagine, there were a lot of challenges with building the road one half at a time … and keeping traffic moving through the job site while still allowing access to businesses and side streets,” ODOT Area 4 Manager Christine Hildebrant said. “They worked very hard to ensure people could get to where they needed to go.”
Hildebrant expressed appreciation toward the community for its patience and especially the downtown businesses and nearby fire department.
“We recognize that active construction at the heart of the city can be very trying and we appreciate your flexibility and support for these past, well, almost two years,” she said. “The project has truly transformed the downtown.”
Holding up a printout of what had been a slide in a 2012 PowerPoint presentation, Workman at one point during the event read a list of goals that had been conceived. Most of them aligned with what has happened over the past two years of the project — improve pedestrian and bicycle access to downtown, improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists, improve connectivity between Main Street and Applegate Street and create a people-friendly, pedestrian-oriented downtown.
“We’ve done that,” Workman said repeatedly after reading each goal before ending with one final one — to revitalize the downtown core. “We’re working on that.”
Corpac owner Trisha Cauthorn, Philomath City Councilor Matt Lehman, CONSOR Engineers Regional Manager Chris Link and State Rep. David Gomberg all took turns with the mic. Jones also said a few words to lead off the event.
Lehman said the project’s impact on pedestrian safety hit home for him Thursday afternoon while watching families navigate the downtown vicinity for Trunk or Treat. He also showed excitement for the future with ongoing revitalization efforts, which includes the city’s façade-improvement program that a few businesses have participated in.
Gomberg talked about the importance of local, state and federal investments to make big projects in small cities happen. He also stressed the importance of “vision and leadership at so many different levels along the stretch of the project to make these kinds of things come to fruition.”
The event included a lot of thank-yous from various speakers to all of those involved. Many of the principal players involved were in attendance, including former City Manager Randy Kugler.
