GREENFIELD — Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, more working from home and less travel has meant Hancock County drivers are spending less on fuel, which means less revenue for the Hancock County Highway Department and the Greenfield Street Department.
This year, it will also mean fewer repairs to streets and roads.
“We’ve had to squeeze down the budget,” Hancock County engineer Gary Pool said of the county’s road work this year.
Pool said the county has planned to spend about $3 million for road repairs this year, which is about $1 million less than he estimates the highway department would have been able to spend without the economic impact of the pandemic.
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Still, there will be improvements to county roads this year. Pool said he is planning to repave eight miles of roads and seal-coat 59 miles. Other roads will see more minor repairs, for a total of 165 miles receiving some work.
Among the major roads on the list are County Road 1050E, County Road 600N and Fortville Pike. Those roads, which receive high traffic, will receive new microsurfacing similar to what was used for Mt. Comfort Road in 2020.
Major work will also continue on Mt. Comfort Road as well, with a widening to four lanes planned. The work will take place from south of County Road 400N to north of County Road 500N. A turn lane will also be included. Plans also call for four new roundabouts on Mt. Comfort Road: at County Roads 400N and 500N; Airport Road; and a new street created for Precedent’s development about 1,200 feet south of County Road 500N. That work is expected to take place throughout the year and conclude in 2022.
Greenfield street commissioner Tyler Rankins said the city’s streets will also continue to see the economic impact of the pandemic into 2021. While fuel tax revenue is rising again, it fell short by about $900,000 in 2020.
“We’re kind of going to be in the same boat as we were in 2020 for a little bit,” Rankins said.
Rankins said the projects the city can tackle in 2021 are based on the revenue the city received in 2020, so the revenue shortfall will continue to have an impact going forward, even if the state’s economy stabilizes in 2021. The county also struggled to complete projects in 2020, in part because economic conditions led to an increase in the cost of materials and in part because many employees needed to take time off after contracting or being exposed to COVID-19.
“When the pandemic hit, our reserves went down,” he said. “…It could be 2022 before things get back to normal.”
Rankins still hopes to work on several projects in 2021. The most significant is a series of repairs on Apple Street.
Rankins has not yet received the city’s traffic safety report from the Greenfield Police Department, but he said he will also take that data into account when deciding the street department’s priorities.
Fatalities on county roads were relatively low in 2020, Pool said, with four deaths. While driving deaths as the result of driver actions, weather and other causes are essentially outside anyone’s control, Pool said, the county tries to address safety issues. The county addressed a number of dangerous intersections in 2020, he said, either with the introduction of a roundabout or four-way stop signs. Four intersections are on the list to build roundabouts to make them safer, on County Roads 600W and 500W.
Funding for those will likely depend on whether the county can secure the money through the state’s Community Crossings program, the largest source of funding for road repairs in Indiana municipalities and counties.
Both the city and the county plan to apply for funding through the Community Crossings program; submissions close at the end of January, and the grant awards will likely be announced in April. The state offers two rounds of such funding every year. McCordsville, New Palestine and Shirley recently received a total of $1.2 million in Community Crossings grants.
Pool said he isn’t worried that county roads will see a major degradation in condition as the result of a year with fewer repairs than unusual.
“If we didn’t do anything this year, it wouldn’t be terrible,” he said.
Every section of road should receive a new surface every six to seven years, Pool said, but it is important to do some work every year so that not too many projects fall at the same time.
“We live here, we’re doing the best we can, but it’s very volatile,” he said. “…I do want to keep the potholes away.”
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The Hancock County Highway Department will hold a public meeting on its County Road 600W project to discuss design changes. The meeting will be held virtually at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 21.
The project runs from 500 feet south of County Road 400 North to 900 feet north of 500 North. It will include widening the road from two lanes to four and adding four roundabouts at busy intersections.
To attend the virtual meeting, follow the link available under the highway department’s section at hancockcoingov.org.
Questions may be directed to Steve Passey at United Consulting ([email protected]) or Gary Pool at the County Highway Department.
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