Small-town stimulus for Columbia City, Vernonia

Vernonia, Columbia City streets to see stimulus revitalization

By Stover E Harger III

The South County Spotlight, Jun 17, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

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Both Vernonia and Columbia City were awarded $94,000 from the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Small Cities Economic Stimulus Program. The program dedicated $5 million of the state’s federal stimulus funding to be divvied up – on a competitive basis – to Oregon cities with populations below 5,000 that have transportation-related projects.

The money is a boon to the cities, officials say, providing temporary construction jobs and help to improve neglected roads in ways they would not have been able to do without the financial assistance.

Columbia City: 6th Street resurfacing

Improving the pavement along 6th Street has been a city goal for some time, said Leahnette Rivers, Columbia City administrator, but the significant project cost has put it on the backburner.

With the stimulus dollars, the city will finally be able to overlay the asphalt, fixing the potholes and cracks that years of heavy use has created on the busy collector street.

The work will stretch across 3,000 feet of 6th Street from its intersections with E Street to Pacific Street. A construction schedule is not yet officially set, but once it begins later this summer, the resurfacing should take about 30 days to complete, Rivers said. The city plans to hire a local contractor, which will give about 15 temporary construction jobs.

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