Quinton Smith **The planned “Safe Streets to Schools” project on Crestline Drive in Waldport calls for extensive clearing on the east side of the street and nearly 5,000 feet of 5- to 10-foot wide sidewalks.**

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews

WALDPORT — A long anticipated project to install sidewalks and crossings along Crestline Drive between neighborhoods to the north and two schools to the south has hit a big stumbling block – money.

The sole bid for the project along the east side of Crestline between Salmon Street and Crestview Heights and Waldport Middle/High schools came in at $3.8 million – twice the amount the city of Waldport has for the project.

City of Waldport **The proposed Crestline Drive sidewalk project would start at Ball Boulevard in the north and extend to Crestview Heights and Waldport Middle/High schools in the south.**

The Oregon Department of Transportation in 2020 awarded Waldport a “Safe Streets to Schools” grant of $1.69 million to build the sidewalk and two lighted crossings. The city has since used another $200,000 from its street reserves fund on engineering and other planning.

But abandoning the idea and returning the grant to ODOT is not what city manager Dann Cutter is thinking. At least for now.

“The city is not going to give the money back,” he said. “We’re just trying to figure out how to move ahead … maybe with some change of plans.”

Cutter said he plans to meet with the bidder, a Coos Bay construction company, this month to ask about the bid, costs and to see if or how much the bid can be negotiated down. But it’s highly unlikely it will come down by half.

“I’m hopeful, but not confident,” he said.

The next idea would be to reject the bid as too high, then consider a handful of other alternatives, including:

Asking ODOT if the some of the 10-foot-wide sidewalks between Range Drive and Crestview Heights can be narrowed;
Changing the current plan for two lighted sidewalks;
Breaking the project into smaller pieces and having the city serve as its own general contractor, which would require hiring a project manager.

Cutter said once the call for bids was released in February he heard from local contractors that they wouldn’t bid on the project because it was too big. Especially daunting was a 10 percent performance bond – something they could handle on a smaller project but not for a project in the $2 million to $3 million range.

The project calls for extensive clearing and grading on the east side of Crestline Drive, and nearly 5,000 feet of 5-to-10 foot wide sidewalks, curbs, crosswalks, 700 feet of storm drains along Range Drive and 3,500 feet of a 6-inch sewer line from Range to Waldport High School.

“Taken as a whole, it’s a very daunting project,” Cutter said. “But breaking it up could make it more doable … and that could allow local contractors to do some of the work.”

The city also plans to ask ODOT to extend the time in which the grant can be spent. The current time limit is June 30, 2024.

But the hope that the project could be finished by the start of school in September is highly unlikely. The best scenario, Cutter said, would now be late fall.

“We will need to make some tough choices on what this project will look like,” he said.