The City of Chiloquin in February 2023 was awarded a Safe Routes to School grant from Oregon's Department of Transportation (ODOT) for $1,597,600 for undertaking Project 4 from the Chiloquin Pedestrian and Bike Plan. The city's financial match for this project is $400,000.
The goal of this project is to make it safer for students to walk and bike to school. 2nd Avenue is a primary access route to both Chiloquin Elementary and Chiloquin Junior and Senior High School. Today, there are no sidewalks along 2nd Avenue, forcing students to walk on the limited shoulder of the roadway and during winter time, students are often forced to walk in the road to avoid the snow berms caused by roadway plows during inclement weather.
This project will provide a continuous sidewalk along the west side of 2nd Avenue with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant accessible curb ramps at the intersections of 1st Avenue, Arnold Street, Blockinger Street, Chiloquin Elementary School driveways, and Elm Street. North of Blockinger Street the project plan is to construct a sidewalk adjacent to the roadway with striped bike lane stencils in the existing shoulders. South of Blockinger Street the project plans to construct a sidewalk between the existing utility poles and fence line of the Chiloquin Elementary School athletic fields. In locations where the width between the utility pole and fence line is less than 5 feet, the sidewalk would transition to be located adjacent to the roadway. Existing shoulders may also need to be widened to accommodate bike lanes in this section of 2nd Avenue.
Update - December 2023
The City Council approved a motion to utilize engineering and consulting services from Adkins Engineering, who provides engineering services to the city, for the Safe Routes to School project. Further scoping and engineering work will begin in January 2024. It is anticipated that construction will begin late 2024 or early 2025.
Check back here for any additional information regarding the Safe Routes to School project for the City of Chiloquin.