A general desire to improve downtown Salem has been a part of many conversations in past years and, in some cases, community members have devoted a lot of time creating plans and designs.
“We’ve had a number of different downtown groups over the years,” said City Administrator Ray Walden. “This goes back to before [Economic Development Director Sally Burbridge] even started working for the city,” he said. According to Walden, community organization GRO was approaching the downtown’s need to revitalize downtown Salem. Walden stated that community members Alex Sellers and A.J. Schafer were big parts of some of the early stages of this downtown revitalization effort.
As reported by The Salem News, the GRO effort was the topic of conversation at the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce’s monthly lunch forum at the Salem campus of Southwest Baptist University in October of 2016.
At that lunch, Schafer presented a 3-D model he created of potential downtown improvements including sidewalk tree planting, bench installation, restaurant patio dining and uniform signage. He said a goal of the GRO group is to have a comprehensive plan drafted by the end of year one.
That plan came to fruition in 2017 when a project that, at the time, was estimated to cost $1.7 million to revitalize the downtown portion of both East and West Fourth Street from Pershing to McArthur as well as the courthouse square.
The plan divided the downtown revitalization project into ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’ segments. Which, according to Walden, is not a way of indicating chronology, but rather a useful way for them to divide up Fourth St. into different pieces.
• ‘A’ included the south side of Fourth St. from Main St. to Iron St.
• ‘B’ included the other three sides of the courthouse square not on Fourth St.
• ‘C’ included on both sides of Fourth St. from Jackson St. to Main St. and S. Waters St. to Hickory St.
• ‘D’ included from Oak St. extending to Pershing St. on the east end of Fourth St. and from Henderson St. to McArthur St. on the west end of Fourth St.
The city used that data more recently to apply for a Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant through the Missouri Department of Transportation.
“Originally, we weren’t aware it could be TAP,” said Walden. However, according to Walden, Archer-Elgin pointed out that the project, if diced into smaller pieces could fall under the TAP grant qualifications. (Archer-Elgin is a Rolla-based engineering firm that is currently working on several other projects for the City of Salem.)
The portion approved for the TAP grant extends down Fourth St. from Washington St. to Main St. on both sides as well as the south side of Fourth St. from Main St. to Iron St. (across the street from the south-facing side of the courthouse). This TAP grant will cover $350,000 of cost for a project that’s estimated to cost around $500,000 with the City of Salem’s matching portion estimated to be approximately $150,000, according to Walden.
The project will soon enter the bidding process, according to Walden. “I hope this is a big enough project that we get lots of bidders,” he said.
According to Walden, the project includes things like improving sidewalk accessibility, burying the electric lines to the street lamps, as well as for beautification, etc.
Walden said that they will be working with landowners and public entities regarding necessary easements for the sidewalk project. Walden told The Salem News that as improvement on that one portion of Fourth St. continues, he hopes it will keep the ball rolling for the further improvement of downtown.
