Infrastructure News Summary
For July 8, 2008

ALEXANDRIA STREET PROJECT TO BE DONE BY 2011
The Herald Bulletin
Brandi Watters
7/7/08

ALEXANDRIA - The planned reconstruction of Washington Street is expected to be completed in November 2010. The City Council was presented on Monday with a tentative timeline for the long-delayed road project, which indicated bid letting would not begin until August 2009. The city hopes to resurface Washington Street from Indiana 9 to County Road 100 West. The project was first proposed in 2001, but the city had not been able to get the roadwork designed by its engineering firm in previous years. Up until May of this year, the city had also encountered difficulty reaching officials from Fanning/Howey, the engineering firm in charge of the project. The total cost of the project is estimated at $3,670,341. The Indiana Department of Transportation will pay for 80 percent of the cost with the city of Alexandria shelling out $747,113. http://www.theheraldbulletin.com/local/local_story_189222256.html

START DATE FOR BRIDGE REPLACEMENT IN FLUX
The Brazil Times
Jason Jacobs
7/7/08

The start date for replacing a bridge and two culverts in Clay County is still in limbo. The Clay County Commissioners initially discussed the replacements in a special meeting on June 23, but were waiting to start work on them until they received more information about how much, if any, assistance or reimbursements could be received. "We attended a meeting last week and met the FEMA representative for Vigo and a couple of other counties, but not ours," Commissioner Paul Sinders said during Monday's regular meeting. Sinders said he was told a FEMA representative should be appointed for the county by the end of this week. The bridge is located on County Road 100 South, one-quarter mile west of CR 600 W in Perry Township, One of the culverts that was washed out was over Little Birch Creek along CR 600 N, just west of CR 300 W in Posey Township, while the other is across Clear Creek in Perry Township on CR 200 S, between CR 425 and 525 W. With the culvert washing into the woods on CR 200 S, approximately 100 feet of the road collapsed. http://www.thebraziltimes.com/story/1442788.html

RIBBON CUTTING HELD FOR NEW I-74 INTERCHANGE
Inside Indiana Business
7/7/08

State and local officials attended a ribbon cutting ceremony this morning for the new interchange at I-74 and Ronald Reagan Parkway in Hendricks County. The $17.4 million project will be open to the public on Wednesday ahead of its September target date. The new interchange is expected to provide better access to the Indianapolis International Airport, Ameriplex, Conrail Railroad and other industrial, commercial and residential areas. http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?ID=30257

THOMPSON SEEKS MORE MILEAGE FROM GAS PRICES
Indianapolis Business Journal
7/7/08

Jill Long Thompson's campaign calls them pocketbook issues, not political issues. Regardless, it's clear that the Democratic nominee for governor believes she's scoring campaign points with her repeated calls for Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels to temporarily suspend the sales tax on gasoline, and her proposal to cap the tax at any pump price above $2.75 per gallon. Whether they're paying off or not, she's made her pitches for cutting sales taxes on gas a major plank of her campaign - one that has put Daniels on the spot for a response over and over again. On or just after the day that ad began airing, Thompson held another news conference urging Daniels to do what former Democratic Gov. Frank O'Bannon did in 2000 - use an energy emergency law to temporarily suspend Indiana's sales tax on gas. She said he should suspend it from July 3 to Labor Day. That would collectively save motorists about $120 million, or in other terms, about $3.50 on a $50 fill-up at current pump prices, she said. http://www.ibj.com/html/detail_page_Full.asp?content=16858&NoFrame=1