City Considering Heated Sidewalks in Downtown Rochester
Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - The Rochester City is scheduled to be briefed this afternoon on a recommendation to replace most of the sidewalks along South Broadway through downtown Rochester.
A plan put together by the Public Works Department recommends including the project in the city’s 2020 Capital Improvement Plan. The project would replace the crumbling brick inlaid sidewalks that were installed in the late 1980s and have proved costly to repair and are creating unsafe conditions for pedestrians.
The proposal being presented to the City Council for discussion would replace the inlaid brick design with the alternating textured panels used along 1st Avenue in the downtown area. The estimated cost is around $2.6 million. The option of adding heated sidewalks to clear snow and ice would cost an additional $1.3 million.
The report identifies several options for covering the cost. They include creating a Sidewalk Improvement District, a Tax Abatement District, Special Service Charge/Assessments, and a Tax Levy.
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