IRRIGON — Irrigon residents, parents and students can expect a safer method for arriving at school with the construction of a new multi-use pathway along the west side of Division Street from Highway 730 to Southeast Wyoming Avenue. The city is aiming to complete it before the start of the school year.

According to the Irrigon Public Works Department, the Division Street project will provide a “clear and safe area for bicyclists and pedestrians, a needed safe zone especially for children going to and from school.”

Division Street previously had no sidewalk or path for pedestrians or students going to school, with cars driving past a couple of feet away.

“Kids would ride their bikes down the middle of Division,” said Aaron Palmquist, Irrigon’s city manager.

The street was a safety issue and dangerous, said Palmquist, noting a child had been killed in a motorcycle accident several years prior.

A path like the one under construction has “been needed for years,” he said.

Palmquist said he has been working on implementing some sort of path since 2013, when he became city manager, but it had been a challenge to secure funding for the project. Finally, in July 2015, the city made an official application to the Oregon Department of Transportation for Statewide Transportation Improvement Program funding. The funding became available in the 2018-21 biennium and they started construction this year.

Palmquist said the path was about safety and a “very strong community need and desire.”

The 10-foot-wide multi-use path, with a price tag of about $1.2 million to $1.4 million, will allow walkers and cyclists a safer opportunity to travel between 730 to Southeast Wyoming and tie into their “safe school route.”

Along with the addition of a flashing beacon on Division Street and barriers that separate the road from the path, the city recently added 12 street lights that light up the road and intersection. Previously, “It used to be dark all the way,” Palmquist said.

Additionally, Palmquist hinted at another project going up to bid in November that will go from First Street through 14th Street and connect with the Division Street pathway.

While it’s likely more than 30 students made the trek during the school day without the pathway, Palmquist said, many parents were afraid to have their children walk the dangerous road. He said there has been much excitement from parents and kids for the pathway and he expects the number of pedestrians and students walking to school will increase.

“It’s exciting to finally see it come to pass,” Palmquist said.