State road work grants total about $6M for Wabash Valley
Dec. 7—The Wabash Valley is among Indiana communities benefiting from a $119.4 million distribution from the state's Community Crossings program.
A dozen Valley cities, towns and counties on Tuesday received nearly $6 million in state matching funds for local road projects.
In all, 229 Indiana cities, towns, and counties received grants. The program is part of the state's Next Level Roads initiative.
The largest awards in the Wabash Valley were awarded to the city of Terre Haute at $1 million and the town of Farmersburg, at $846,979.50.
Vigo County was awarded $782,438.
Josey Daugherty, assistant city engineer for Terre Haute, said the city will match its $1 million grant with $1 million, giving the city $2 million to mill down and repave 6.2 miles of city streets next year.
While it is not a lot of miles, Daugherty said several city streets slated for paving are wide, such as Davis Avenue which is 55 feet wide and Wabash Avenue which is 50 feet wide. Other streets are 20 feet wide.
The projects targeted under the grant, Daugherty said, include Johnson Drive from Third Place to Fourth Street; Davis Avenue from Third Street to Seventh Street; Fourth Street from Hospital Lane to Davis Avenue; Seventh Street from Royce Drive to Davis Avenue; Fruitridge Avenue from Wallace Avenue to the I-70 bridge, south of Margaret Avenue; Walnut Street from Third Street to 19th Street; Locust Street from 25th Street to the Heritage Trail Apartments; Wabash Avenue from 35th Street to Highland Lawn Cemetery.
"The plan is to bid these road projects out in early 2023 and then begin in April or so to start paving these roads," Daugherty said.
"This is the first year that we got the full $1 million. We apply every year, but never got the full amount. This will really help us out," he said.
Vigo County previously received more than $217,562 from Community Crossings earlier this year and with the $782,438 awarded Tuesday, the county "received the full $1 million allowed for the year," said Larry Robbins, Vigo County engineer and highway director.
The county will pave 17.3 miles of road next year, including new asphalt on 2.5 miles of Devonald Avenue; 2 miles on Roberts Road; 5.5 miles on Greencastle Road; 2.6 miles on Baldwin Road; and 4.7 miles on Battlerow Place.
Robbins said since Community Crossings/Next Level Road program began, Vigo County has been able to spend $4 million to $5 million annually on road work.
Robbins said a $1 million state grant, matched by the county, provides $2 million in funding for road work "so it is close to 50 percent of our road paving every year, so it is definitely significant," Robbins said.
Other Wabash Valley grant awards include the city of Brazil $38,570.62; the town of Hymera $514,078.50; the town of Montezuma $747,942.75; Parke County $284,957.54; the town of Rockville $68,941.50; the town of Rosedale $249,873; the town of Shelburn $179,598.75; the city of Sullivan $836,493.52; and Vermillion County $351,979.29.
To qualify for funding, local governments must provide local matching funds of 50 percent for larger communities or 25 percent for smaller communities. They also must have an asset management plan for maintaining existing roads and bridges.
State law requires annually that half of available matching-grant funds be awarded to communities within counties with a population of 50,000 or fewer.
The Community Crossings initiative has provided more than $1 billion for local road construction projects since 2016.
Howard Greninger can be reached at 812-231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com. Follow on Twitter @TribStarHoward.
Howard Greninger can be reached at 812-231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com. Follow on Twitter @TribStarHoward.
