Sidewalks along West Main Street will likely top the list when an improvement plan is launched.

McMinnville Public Works Department has $45,000 within its 2021-22 fiscal year budget for sidewalk improvements.

“I’m recommending that we spend that $45,000 on West Main Street from D.C. Tires to Hardee’s on both sides,” said Ming, to members of the city Streets and Sanitation Committee. “That amount may get us the whole length. It will be close. We will reassess from there for the next budget.”

Cost estimate: sidewalk replacement is $12 per linear foot and that portion of West Main Street is 4,606 linear feet.

“That’s a total of $55,000,” said Ming. “Not all of it needs to be replaced. It’ll be close.”

Community Development Department property maintenance inspector Lyndon Bussell has conducted a study of city sidewalks in order to rank those for future funding. He presented those findings to committee members.

“This is our study area. It is, essentially, all of our existing sidewalks inside the city of McMinnville,” said Bussell. “That is, from my calculations, about 173,000 feet of sidewalk. We have been out surveying and checking surface conditions. Essentially, we were trying to determine which areas were best for improvement.”

Bussell continued, “In the results, we see that downtown, the west side of downtown, scored exceptionally high. We are talking about 85 to 95% on the analysis – showing that it definitely has an importance of having to be upgraded. There is also a section off to the right, which is Walling and Villa streets. Those place also scored exceptionally high. Pretty much they are very old. A lot of damaged sidewalks. A lot of vertical separation of road issues there.”

Also noted were any obstructions such as overhanging trees and/ or utility poles protruding from the sidewalk.