The project will begin next spring and should be finished by the end of 2021

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – Five of the main corridors in and around downtown Youngstown will be redeveloped to make the downtown area more pedestrian-friendly.

“If you look at Wick Avenue right now and some of the improvements we made there, it’s going to mimic those improvements, tie it in, make it more of a pedestrian-friendly corridor and inviting,” said Jim Kinnick, with Eastgate Regional Council of Governments. “What we really want to do is attract people to downtown, YSU and the Mercy Health centers.”

People interested in the $22 million project were briefed Thursday afternoon at the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments.

Artists’ renderings showed what it’ll look like when it’s done.

“It’ll look like a different community, that’s for sure,” Kinnick said.

The areas on the list? Commerce and Phelps, Federal and Phelps, Rayen and Wick, Front and Market, and Park Avenue between Stambaugh Auditorium and St. Elizabeth Hospital.

The project will begin next spring and should be finished by the end of 2021.

A self-driving shuttle is also being planned to move people from St. E’s to downtown, though the exact route hasn’t been determined yet.