City hoping to add sidewalks in Oak Harbor
Published 1:30 am Tuesday, May 19, 2026
Sidewalk gaps in northern Oak Harbor will be filled if the city secures adequate federal funding and the county’s support.
On May 12, the Oak Harbor City Council authorized staff to apply for approximately $4.3 million from Safe Streets for All, a competitive federal grant program of the U.S. Department of Transportation. The city would provide a 20% match if granted the money, likely necessitating a budget amendment.
In total, the project is anticipated to cost about $5.4 million. Grant Administrator Wendy Horn explained the city would have five years to complete it.
Grant money would fund the construction of a 7,760-foot-long sidewalk adjacent to the intersection of Northwest Crosby Avenue and Northwest Heller Road. Plans also include installing pedestrian lighting, adding roadway striping and creating a bike lane.
Notably, sidewalk is planned for the eastern side of Heller Road, which would connect the Redwing neighborhood and Family Bible Church to the rest of Oak Harbor. There is little safe room for pedestrians on Heller, with no sidewalks on either side of the road, narrow shoulders and roadside ditches.
County support is crucial for the project’s implementation, as those properties are situated outside city limits and exit onto a county road. City Engineer Alex Warner said he hoped to obtain the council’s support before the issue is brought to the county commissioners.
Protecting pedestrians is a goal of the county-wide Comprehensive Safety Action Plan passed in 2025 by the Island Regional Transportation Planning Organization. Similar projects include the recent installation of shared-use paths on Northeast Seventh Avenue and Southwest Swantown Avenue.
“We’re trying to reduce any serious injuries, any fatalities,” Phillip Esqueda, the city’s capital projects manager, said. “Zero is always the target, and we’re always striving to get that, so we’re hoping that this sidewalk project is a good candidate (for the grant) this round.”
City staff narrowed its scope of work after having an application to the same grant program rejected last year.
Island County Regional Transportation Planning Organization successfully applied for a joint planning grant from Safe Streets for All in 2022 to pay a consultant to create the Comprehensive Safety Action Plan. City staff’s application was rejected in 2025 because their proposal for pedestrian safety improvements around Highway 20 was too broad, Esqueda explained.
He said that Redwing residents have expressed interest in extending the sidewalk to their neighborhood. Doing so would create a safer way for students to get to two nearby schools: Hillcrest Elementary School and Oak Harbor High School.
Warner said the city also considered pedestrian safety improvements to the intersection of Southeast Bayshore Drive and Southeast Dock Street, as well as Whidbey Avenue and Oak Harbor Street.
