Pocatello’s plan to improve downtown pedestrian access
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POCATELLO – An effort is underway by the city to assess and ultimately repair critical infrastructure in its downtown – sidewalks.
At a Pocatello City Council meeting in January, the Council voted unanimously to begin an improvement project on sidewalks in the area around historic downtown Pocatello. This specific project is part of a long-range, multiyear effort to improve sidewalks not only in downtown, but across all areas of the city.
Sidewalks are “such an important part of being able to just get around in general, so … I’m really excited to see what we’re able to do with (this project) in the future,” said Becky Baab, the city’s planning manager.
Downtown isn’t the first part of town to have the city launch a sidewalk improvement effort. Last year, workers improved sidewalks in the Bonneville neighborhood – in areas around the Senior Center, the Leavitt Center, and sections of Center Street and 7th Street.
Baab said construction teams will follow the same format they used in the Bonneville neighborhood for the downtown project, starting with identifying areas of the sidewalks that are “lifted or cracked, or where the concrete is coming apart.”
Repairs needed for safety and mobility
How Skyler Beebe, director of Pocatello Regional Transit and the city’s ADA coordinator, explains it: Flaws in the sidewalk may not seem like too much of an issue for people in good health, but it’s another story for people with disabilities.
“It’s detrimental for someone in a wheelchair or someone who’s blind, because they have to navigate around rocks (and) uneven surfaces,” Beebe said.
Another problem that arises from uneven sidewalks and impacts people with disabilities more is snow.
“Snow removal can be a problem. You can walk through the snow, but when someone has to take their wheelchair through it – they just can’t,” Beebe said.
Overall, city leaders say it’s just less safe for everyone to walk on damaged sidewalks.
“The ones that scare me the most is when I see daycare or grade schools, or just kids in general who are walking down a street that has no sidewalks, or has the sidewalks so crumbly or bad or broken apart that they’re walking in the street,” Beebe said. “That’s a scary thing.”
In Mayor Mark Dahlquist’s Jan. 16 address to the Chamber of Commerce, he spoke on the quality of sidewalks he saw while he was door-knocking during the election.
“(I was) walking around when I was campaigning, and walking on some of our scary, cracked, buckling sidewalks. Sidewalks are a big issue with people, and we’ve got to figure that out,” Dahlquist said.
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Project price tag and timeline
At the City Council meeting, the council members voted to authorize a $360,750 contract with Precision Concrete, which can now begin to survey the entire project area. The company will identify every street with lifed sidewalk panels, missing or damaged curbs and gutters, cracks and spalling – which is when the concrete surface breaks apart.
At that point, Precision Concrete will create a detailed inventory of each problem location, which the planning department will use to plan its actions in the next phase. City staff will compare this inventory to downtown’s bus stops, schools, senior facilities, low-income housing and other key destinations to determine which areas to prioritize first.
The second phase will see the contractor use a process called grinding – in which they grind down raised lips and uneven areas of the sidewalk to be level – on as many places as it can in the project area. The contractor will be able to perform up to 6,500 inch-feet of grinding.
“It’s very cost-effective to do this kind of grinding program, where we put out a bid,” Baab said.” “We’ll identify if we can repair (the broken sidewalk) through grinding or if it’s in such poor condition that it needs to be replaced.”
How far the third phase goes will be determined by how much funding remains. At this point, the contractor will pour as many new panels as it can with the rest of the funding.
Also in the City Council meeting, Pocatello grants manager Christine Howe said that a separate, later grant would be applied for in order to take care of the sidewalk panels identified as needing replacement from phase one.
The primary funding behind this project is from the Federal Transit Authority. Community Development Block Grant funds provide the required 20% local matching funds.
Baab said that the city plans to continue to utilize this funding mechanism as long as it’s available, and continue to improve sidewalks across the city.
“I think it’s important to improve our walkability everywhere,” she said.