OSWEGO – Mayor Billy Barlow announced today a proposal to re-design East First Street in downtown Oswego, between East Bridge Street and East Cayuga Street.
The proposed re-design will condense through traffic from four lanes, to two lanes, and replace parallel parking with a diagonal parking format, similar to West First and West Second streets in downtown Oswego.
The re-design is intended to calm traffic, introduce additional greenspace and beautification, and allow for more parking in an area of the city currently experiencing a significant amount of construction and re-development. Two of the city’s large Downtown Revitalization Projects (DRI) have appeared along East First Street, including the indoor Lake Ontario waterpark and the new construction of a 70-unit mixed-use building, including 3,500 square feet of ground-level commercial space.
“Our proposed East First Street redesign project will significantly improve downtown and allow us to replicate the success and progress we’re experiencing in downtown on the west side of the river,” Barlow said. “As some large-scale projects go through construction and begin to open, we need to improve public space around areas seeing an influx of private investment. Our project complements the new developments and will make the east side of downtown more enjoyable and attractive.”
Second Ward Councilor Shawn Burridge said he was looking forward to the improvements coming to the east side, saying, “the enhancement to east first street will assist with parking, improve the area and help nearby businesses. I’m pleased with the attention and investment being placed in the east side of the city and look forward to seeing the project completed.”
Funding for the project was included in Barlow’s outline of the city’s intentions to use the federal government’s American Rescue Plan to recover from COVID and make improvements throughout the community.
The Common Council will vote to approve the project, and to authorize the project to be bid out, during the Administrative Services Committee on Monday, April 20. City officials hope to have the project under construction in June, when East First Street from Bridge Street to Cayuga Street is already scheduled to be repaved.
