The city of Waldport has received a $1.67 million grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation to build sidewalks and a crossing on Crestline Drive to improve safety around Crestview Heights School.
The grant was among 43 totaling $28.3 million awarded by the agency under its Safe Routes to Schools program.
The Waldport project will involve a 10-foot wide sidewalk or pathway along the east side of Crestline from the school north to Salmon Street. The other main element of the project includes a full street crossing on Crestline to Crestview Heights.
While the grant was announced last week, the city won’t be meeting with ODOT until February to determine how the project will proceed, said City Manager Dann Cutter. The hope, however, that the project will be completed by the start of school next fall.
The city plans to develop a project page on its upcoming new website to keep the public apprised of the project and to give local contractors the opportunity to look at various bidding opportunities.
This is the second time the city had applied for the state’s Safe Routes to Schools program. Its application did not make the cut two years ago, so Cutter said the city vastly re-worked it.
Cutter said a longterm goal is to construct a sidewalk from Crestine down Range Drive to U.S. Highway 101.
