Ribbon cutting marks completion of Downtown Lebanon Streetscape project

Cold and blustery weather may have forced most of the ceremony indoors, but it didn’t hurt turnout or enthusiasm as Lebanon city officials, local dignitaries, and assorted city residents turned out Tuesday morning at City Hall to mark the conclusion of the Downtown Lebanon Cumberland Streetscape project.

The three-year effort – a sidewalk, traffic safety, and infrastructure upgrade along Cumberland Street (U.S. Route 422 west), Lebanon’s main downtown thoroughfare – roughly coincided with the multi-year street resurfacing of the city’s main east-west and north-south arteries, that resulted in dirt, delays, noise, and frustration for motorists and city businesses and residents. It was funded by a combination of state and federal grants.

Read More: Cumberland Street repaving from 5th Avenue to 16th Street starts this week

Obvious visual components of the undertaking include new sidewalks and verges, street trees, architecturally appropriate street lights, and curb cuts.

Obsolete 1960s vintage streetlights have given way to architecturally harmonious, energy-efficient replacements.

Less apparent are a number of traffic and pedestrian safety features in the downtown business district. Curb extensions, raised concrete protrusions into the street, provide pedestrians with shorter crossing distances and elevated views of oncoming traffic.

In addition, crosswalks in the 700 block of Cumberland Street, adjacent to City Hall, now feature a pushbutton-activated, rapidly-flashing beacon to alert motorists of pedestrians about to step off the curb.

After remarks by Mayor Sherry Capello and a number of participants and stakeholders in the project, the crowd moved to the City Hall sidewalk where Capello and Janelle Groh, the city’s Community and Economic Development Administrator, jointly cut a red ribbon, surrounded by various guests and dignitaries.