Odon moving on more than $9 million in projects

Mike Grant, Washington Times-Herald, Ind.
·3 min read

Mar. 16—ODON — The town of Odon is looking at a pair of major projects that have the potential to help the community grow and make it safer.

The Indiana Department of Transportation this week informed the town board that it will receive a $3.5 million federal grant to expand West Street from the Odon Park to just north of SR 58.

"We were pretty excited to get the grant," said Odon Town Board President Susie Roach. "We had tried for that grant before, but it was turned down. We listened to the problems the state had with it. We went back and reworked it, resubmitted it and now we have landed the grant."

The second attempt came up less expensive, mostly because there was less property to acquire.

"There will only be one property now that will be removed," said Roach. "We will be acquiring smaller amounts of property along the east side of the road to install sidewalks."

Those sidewalks will stretch the length of the project, from the Odon Park to SR 58. Officials say they anticipate that the project will add to the safety in town and in the country.

"The first thing is that the sidewalk will help the 400 families who have kids that play baseball at our park have a safer way to get there," said Roach. "The other thing it will do is open the bottleneck at the park on CR 900 E. It will also open up the intersection onto SR 58 and make it so trucks can turn there."

Currently, trucks heading into the hundreds of businesses along CR 900 E., avoid Odon by traveling on CR 800 N. The hilly road is home to two Amish schools and has a lot of buggy traffic.

"This will increase the town's visibility, make travel safer, and it could even help us bring in some new business," said Roach. "It will also be the culmination of the CR 900 E., project that the county is working on."

"This is great news," said Daviess County Commissioners President Michael Taylor. "That makes me happy. We can get that Odon-Cannelburg Road opened all the way from U.S. 50 to SR 58. That is the last piece of the puzzle."

The funding calls for the state and federal government to pay 80% on the project. The county will pay 10% and Odon will put up 10%. While the money is approved it will not be arriving until 2026.

"We have plenty of work to do between now and then," said Roach. "We have to get the engineering finished. We also need to acquire the right-of-way that we will need."

The federal grant is not the only big money news in Odon. The town board this week approved a plan to move forward on a $5.4 million dollar project to improve the towns water plant.

"We are in compliance," said Roach. "But the plant is 40 years old and in serious need of some upgrades. It has been fixed about as much as we can. It has just reached the point where we need to do some replacing."

The project includes a new water tower and a new well for the town.

"This will do a lot of good things," said Roach. "It will improve the service to our current customers. It will make the plant up-to-date and more efficient, and it will double our capacity, which means we will be able to take on any growth the community has."

The town board is exploring funding options and potential grants to help offset the cost of the project to rate-payers.