MISSOULA, Mont. -- In Missoula the second phase of construction on Brooks Street sidewalks started Tuesday.

The project includes renovated curbs, sidewalks, trees and landscaping.

"The goal is to revitalize this entire area that is kind of known as midtown."

The Brooks Street Commercial Sidewalk Project is part of a multi-year, multi-million dollar effort to complete missing links in the sidewalk network. It's funded by Urban Renewal District funds and designed by the WGM Group.

"A lot of Brooks Street didn't have enough right-of-way width to build sidewalks, so we've been working with the landowners to negotiate easEments," says WGM engineer Jeremy Keene.

One of those landowners is Matt Loomis, owner of the Baskin-Robbins shop that hosted an ice cream social to celebrate the groundbreaking. He says the project should be good for business in the long run.

"A lot of people are now walking past the store, and getting kind of frustrated because we have a little bit of sidewalk on our corner, but that's it," says Loomis.

First Loomis will have to deal with months of construction that could block access to his shop.

"It's going to be, I think, a long construction phase for us," says Loomis. But he says it'll be worth it.

"I'm willing to give up a couple of weeks of poor business to kind of have in the long run it will be beautified. It's going to be not just us but the rest of midtown. I think it will all link up very nicely. It's going to look better in the end," says Loomis.

Engineers say construction should wrap up in October.