More changes planned for intersections
Additional changes to Chancery Street between Morford and Colville streets are planned for phase one of the Main Street McMinnville downtown revitalization effort, project officials have announced.
Work at two intersections at Chancery and Morford and Colville streets, as well as Chancery Street between those intersections, has been added. Officials originally planned for work to be performed only at the intersection of Main and Chancery streets.
Plans call for utilities such as electrical, phone and cable lines now hanging overhead to be buried underground during construction estimated to begin in June.
In relation to the anticipated work, officials decided it would be practical to address more of the downtown portion of Chancery Street now, John Grossman, president of the project’s engineering firm, EG&G, Inc., said last week.
“We really wanted to get that unsightly accumulation of overhead wires removed because we were doing that intersection, which will include lights and new traffic signal poles with the mast arms,” Grossman said of Chancery and Main streets, noting officials contacted affected utilities for their input.
“We explained the dilemma that we really needed to get these lines underground for that intersection. And as we looked at it together, we had a number of meetings. We all realized that eventually, all of [the downtown portion of] Chancery would be done in phase two, so we thought it would be better, if we could, to try get all of the lines underground on Chancery from Morford to Colville.”
Current plans are for the city to bury the utility lines and build a new sidewalk, City Administrator Herb Llewellyn said. Main Street McMinnville board President and McMinnville Electric System General Manager/CEO Rodney Boyd confirmed the additional utility work is a cooperative effort between the city, MES, Ben Lomand Communications, Frontier/Citizens Communications as well as Charter Communications.
Bids were opened at city hall yesterday and were high compared to what engineers had thought phase one construction – generally located between Chancery and Market streets on Main Street – would cost. Bid discussions are expected to take place, but no public meeting was set as of press time Thursday.