'Explore the downtown': Lebanon city officials celebrate completion of streetscape project
Lebanon city officials are hoping to ramp up foot traffic in the downtown after major construction finishes on a multi-year revitalization project to improve sidewalks and features along Cumberland Street.
City, state and county officials, along with various community leaders, gathered at the Lebanon City Hall Tuesday, April 1, for theLebanon Streetscape Project ribbon cutting. The $5.2 million construction project encompassed Cumberland Street from 4th through 12th Streets, and included decorative sidewalk areas, curb extensions and the replacement of some existing trees.
Lebanon City Mayor Sherry Capello said that creating a more pedestrian friendly environment helps to boost local businesses and property values.
"Improving sidewalks encourages people to explore the downtown area on foot," she said. "Features like crosswalks, curb extensions and pedestrian signals prioritize pedestrians, creating a more welcoming environment for shoppers, diners and visitors."
Designed by Steckbeck Engineering & Surveying and built by Doug Lamb Construction, the project consisted of works including 100-foot-long section of sidewalk on the south side of Cumberland St. between 428 and 5th street and an 8-inch-wide straight curb for the southwest corner of Chapel St.
The two-year construction project caused multiple detours and delays on Cumberland Street, with crews tearing out sidewalks in front of local businesses and traffic delays. However, many officials Tuesday said that the hassles were worth it for the streetscape that now lines the Lebanon downtown.
"I will say as someone who has walked downtown many, many times, you could not walk and text at the same time downtown because the sidewalks were so uneven," Karen Groh, president and CEO of the Lebanon Valley Chamber of Commerce, said during the ceremony. "Now they are so beautiful, you don't want to walk and text the same time because the architecture shines through in the way everything has been enhanced."
Plans to renovate the streetscape began in 2016 while officials were looking to move the Lebanon City Hall back to the downtown. Capello said she was visiting the city of Easton, where she fell in love with their streetscape.
"I'm like 'We need to have that here in Lebanon,' because it just looked so fresh, new, inviting and I just thought that would help with revitalization," she said.
The nine-year project received $100,000 from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development Multimodal Transportation Fund and more than $5.1 million in American Rescue Plan funding, according to Capello. While city officials would like to continue streetscaping projects for other areas in the downtown, they would need to look for outside funding to do a similar project because "concrete is very expensive."
"So when we first sprung the idea on everyone, it was supposed to be a public/private partnership with the property owners," Capello said. "But then when we were able to get ARPA funding, cause we knew not everyone would be able to afford it, we just used the ARPA funding to make it happen."
Capello added that if the city would look into doing other areas, there would likely have to be a public/private partnership with property owners paying for some of the improvements.
City officials moving forward are working on a downtown retail strategy, which include working with consulting services to create a virtual, on-demand training portal for small businesses. Capello said many local businesses are still struggling with issues like supply and demand issues, online competition and staffing shortages.
"Those challenges still exist, so we're hoping that maybe we can provide some sort of support to help come up with some ideas," she said. "How successful we will be with that, I'm not sure. But we need to try. We need to try, and we want to be there to help and support them."
Matthew Toth is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at mtoth@ldnews.com or on X at @DAMattToth.
This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: Lebanon city officials celebrate completion of streetscape project
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