After a business in a shopping plaza off Dixon’s Lowell Park Road gave the OK, the city can now begin constructing a sidewalk adjacent to the roadway.

The Dixon City Council on Tuesday, Sept. 2, approved a “permanent sidewalk easement” by the developer of R.P. Lumber at 1350 N. Galena Ave. in Dixon. The easement allows the city to build on and use a portion of the privately owned property for a public sidewalk.

The new sidewalk will run adjacent to Lowell Park Road. It’ll pick up where the existing sidewalk ends near Canterbury Apartments at 1501 Lowell Park Road and extend to the parking lot of the shopping center containing R.P. Lumber, County Market and other stores, Public Works Director Matt Heckman told Shaw Local.

The sidewalk is included in Dixon’s $1.4 million fiscal 2026 street resurfacing project, which is largely being completed by Helm Civil Construction.

Heckman said it will be finished during “this construction season” and there will be no road closure while the work is going on.

City officials decided to build the sidewalk after realizing that many “people are walking adjacent to the roadway” from their residences to the shopping center, Heckman said.

There’s a “problematic area at the top of that hill on Lowell Park Road where, especially in the dark,” it’s difficult for drivers to see if people are walking, Heckman said.

Heckman said the city is “stoked” that residents will “now have safe access out of those” complexes.

City officials are also “very appreciative” of the cooperation from R.P Lumber developer, R.L.P. Development Company, he said.