Streets in the New Palestine neighborhood of Cedar Creek are slated for improvements thanks to a state grant program.
Mitchell Kirk | Daily Reporter
HANCOCK COUNTY – More than $1.2 million in road improvements is coming to the county from a state grant program.
The funds are from the latest round of Community Crossings, a component of Gov. Eric Holcomb’s Next Level Roads initiative. Greenfield was awarded nearly $520,000, Hancock County was awarded over $482,000, New Palestine was awarded over $152,000 and Shirley was awarded over $108,000.
Tyler Rankins, Greenfield street commissioner, said the city’s funds will go toward paving Davis Road from Ind. 9 to Franklin Street. All of the streets in Whitcomb Village south of Davis Road west of Ind. 9 will be resurfaced as well, along with small segments in Hampton Place and Waterview.
“If we can, we like to keep the majority of the packet in the same location to get a better price,” Rankins said.
Greenfield will do over $1 million of road improvements thanks to the latest round, as it contributed a 50% match. The city’s recent Community Crossings award follows one for $1 million last December, which also comes with a match from the city.
“We’re talking $3 million worth of streets this year, and that’s huge,” Rankins said.
Hancock County will be doing nearly $1 million in improvements through the program, as it also contributed a 50% match. County engineer Gary Pool said all of the funds are going toward bridge improvements – 56 crossings in all. The scope of work for 34 of them will consist of cleaning the existing bridge deck and applying a surface seal treatment in accordance with Indiana Department of Transportation standards. Bridges that have concrete rail will have surface seal applied to the rail as well.
The scope of work for the remaining 22 bridges will include milling off any existing overlay material, installing a new waterproof membrane on the existing bridge beams, and placing a new hot mix asphalt surface over the entire milled project length.
“It’s normal work we had planned,” Pool said, “it’s just nice to get half of it paid for by someone else.”
New Palestine’s award represents 75% of the total amount slated for road improvements, with the town contributing a 25% match. Steve Pool, the town’s street commissioner, said the funds will improve all of the streets in the Cedar Creek subdivision east of Gem Road north of U.S. 52. He added the roads will be milled an inch and a half and be repaved. All of the curb ramps will be updated as well.
Pool noted the town’s roads are rated every year and that those ratings are part of determining which ones come up for improvements.
“The roads were the next in line for a rehabilitation project,” he said.
He added he was very pleased to learn of the award.
“Any time you can stretch your road money by 75%, it’s a good thing,” he said.
Shirley’s award is also on top of a 25% match from the town. Teresa Hester, the town’s clerk-treasurer, said the plan is to redo South Street between Meridian and Noble Streets, as well as Lee Street.
“We’ve had to do some repairs through there with water mains and different things, and it’s just time for it to be redone,” Hester said.
Last year, South Street between Second and Meridian streets was able to be redone thanks to Community Crossings, Hester recalled.
“We’re just really thankful for the program,” she said.
The Hancock County recipients are among 224 Indiana cities, towns and counties that will receive a combined $133.4 million in state matching funds for local road projects through Community Crossings, according to a news release from INDOT.
“The continued success of the Community Crossings program becomes more evident each year,” Holcomb said in the release. “Improving transportation infrastructure at the most local level makes communities that much more attractive for business and Hoosier families alike to connect and grow.”
Communities submitted applications for funding during a call for projects in January. Applications were evaluated based on need and current conditions, as well as impacts to safety and economic development. Funding for Community Crossings comes from the state’s local road and bridge matching grant fund. The Community Crossings initiative has provided more than $1.27 billion in state matching funds for local construction projects since 2016.
“Safe, modern infrastructure at the local level makes Indiana’s transportation network stronger,” INDOT Commissioner Mike Smith said. “Partnering with locals on these projects is something INDOT looks forward to each year. The hard work and dedication of local entities to secure these funds and make improvements in their communities does not go unnoticed.”
To qualify for funding, local governments must provide local matching funds of 50% for larger communities or 25% for smaller communities and have an asset management plan for maintaining existing roads and bridges. Indiana law requires annually that 50% of the available matching funds be awarded to communities located in counties with a population of 50,000 or fewer.
State lawmakers identified long-term funding for Community Crossings as part of House Enrolled Act 1002, passed by the legislature and signed into law by Holcomb in April 2017.
The next call for projects will open in July.
