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The city of McMinnville is revitalizing a nine-block stretch of one of its main streets.

The Third Street Improvement Project is currently in the engineering and design phase. It will include street and sidewalk reconstruction, underground infrastructure upgrades, street furnishings, and landscaping.

鈥淭hird Street expresses the cultural richness of the city and the surrounding region forging an identity all its own, both quirky and classic,鈥� city project managers Jody Christensen and Jeff Gooden stated in an email. 鈥淔eaturing historic architectural gems, curated art and furnishings, and adaptive infrastructure, Third Street is both timeless and responsive to future innovation.鈥�

The city identified the need for Third Street upgrades as early as 2000, according to Christensen and Gooden. Over the past 20 years, the city has worked on planning, gathering community input, and designing the project, as well as putting into place an urban renewal district to help pay for it. The city is now in phase D for design and engineering.

In 2021, the city elected to move forward with phase D design development with the hope of producing 30 percent of construction documents to compete for state and federal funding.

This past August, the city awarded the phase D contract to civil engineering design consultant BKF Engineers. SERA Architects is one of the sub-consultants. BKF will manage the design team as well as track progress, the consultant team schedule and deliverables, and the consultant team budget. BKF will be responsible for documenting all design decisions and maintaining an official record of all documents and communications associated with this contracted phase of the project, according to the project鈥檚 website.

Phase D will focus on the nine linear blocks from Northeast Adams Street to Northeast Johnson Street and will address the deteriorated downtown infrastructure that has led to accessibility and safety issues, the city鈥檚 website states. During this phase, a business resiliency toolkit will be developed to help businesses downtown prepare for construction, Christensen and Gooden stated.

Design will begin in November and is expected to be 30 percent complete in August 2024 with the completion of Phase D. As part of the 30 percent design, the engineer will provide an engineer鈥檚 estimate for the future construction cost.

American Rescue Plan Act funding and McMinnville urban renewal dollars will help pay for the project.

Construction of the project is not expected to begin before 2026, Christensen and Gooden stated. The city does not have a bid date determined yet. The project鈥檚 completion date is yet to be determined.