City of La Pine will plan for improvements to sidewalks, streetscapes with $375,000 in ARPA funding

(Update: Adding video, comments from the city manager)

La PINE, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The city of La Pine has received more than $300,000 to plan a big upgrade to its sidewalks.  

The city was awarded $375,000 from the federal American Rescue Plan Act that was given to the state back in 2021.

"This money has been set aside for the engineering and project planning for an eastside sidewalk and streetscape improvement," La Pine City Manager Geoff Wullschlager said Wednesday.

The existing eastside streetscape will be broken up and removed when the upgrade goes in.

Wullschlager told us, "Installation of the streetscape would be put in with swales, a bigger buffer area between the travel lanes and the walking path. So it doesn't just include the ADA sidewalk."

He said the project is going to be about 4,200 linear feet along the east side of Highway 97.

There was a February 29 bid deadline -- four bids were received, and a contractor was selected. 

The engineering and design aspects are expected to be done by the end of this year. But that's just the start of the process.

"Then we're actually going to have to go out and seek more money for the actual construction and development on the ground of the actual physical attributes," Wullschlager said.

Bidders were told the design should mimic the City of La Pine City Hall frontage, First Street streetscape and La Pine's Transit Center.