Infrastructure News Summary
For May 20, 2008
THIS SUMMER'S LOCAL ROAD PROJECTS MIGHT BE ROADBLOCK TO SMOOTH TRAFFIC
Evansville Courier & Press
Jimmy Nesbitt
5/20/08
Road construction season is in full bore across Southern Indiana, causing traffic delays and sending motorists on hunts for alternate routes. State, county and city governments plan to invest millions of dollars over the next several months to improve local roads. These projects will affect major thoroughfares, including U.S. 41, the Lloyd Expressway and Indiana 62. http://www.courierpress.com/news/2008/may/20/road-construction-ahead/
US 31 MAJOR MOVES PROJECT MEANS MOVING FOR SOME
WNDU
Marcie Kobriger
5/19/08
455 property owners are slated to be affected by the widening and reconstruction of US-31 from South Bend to Plymouth, giving the name, 'Major Moves' a new meaning. INDOT is showing off their latest design plans for the project, which include about thirty percent of the project design specifications. The design gives some homeowners a good idea how they're property will be affected, and if they'll have to move. Leonard Leemeris learned INDot will most likely not acquire his land for construction, but the new road will be sitting just yards from his house. "My major concern is that I have to move. I don't want to move. If you're going to build US-31 then I'm sitting behind a big wall like the by-pass. You want to live behind a big wall?" Leemeris wonders what his next move will be. http://www.wndu.com/localnews/headlines/19086094.html
U.S. 27 CONSTRUCTION WILL TAKE ABOUT 4 WEEKS
Palladium-Item
5/19/08
WINCHESTER, Ind. -- Construction begins Thursday for a $1.8 million U.S. Highway 27 resurfacing project, and drivers should expect single-lane traffic in some areas. Construction crews are scheduled to excavate and build new turn lanes at the Greenville Pike intersection between U.S. 36 in Lynn and County Road 300, north of Winchester in Randolph County, according to a release from the Indiana Department of Transportation. After Memorial Day, milling and paving operations will restrict traffic to a single lane along the 11-mile roadway for about 3 weeks. There will be no detours. http://www.pal-item.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080519/NEWS01/805190310/1008
'PROJECT OPEN MARKET' TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS RAMP UP
CITY HOPES PROJECT REVITALIZES NEAR-EAST SIDE
The Indy Channel
5/19/08
INDIANAPOLIS -- More restrictions are now in place in an Indianapolis road
construction and economic development project that has been planned for four
years.
The northbound lanes of College Avenue were closed one way between Fletcher and
Washington streets as Project Open Market work ramps up.
Project Open Market is both a road project and an economic plan to bring more
commerce to the city's east side, but there is short-term pain for businesses in
the area. http://www.theindychannel.com/news/16326607/detail.html
BRIDGE RESPONSIBILITY SHUFFLE
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
5/19/08
Fort Wayne City Council members will have the opportunity this week, when the county commissioners appear at the City Council meeting, to directly question the commissioners about their decision to abdicate responsibility for bridge maintenance. Members of the Fort Wayne City Council - as well as the New Haven City Council and other city and town councils - may have little choice but to formally petition the County Council to increase the county's wheel tax, which is paid along with excise taxes when motor vehicle owners renew their plates. The seven-member council, not the commissioners, would be the government organization taxpayers could blame - or, to put another way, citizens wanting safe bridges could credit - for raising the wheel tax. Councilman Roy Buskirk supports a higher wheel tax for bridge repairs, saying the wheel tax is as close as the county can get to a user fee. But some council members are far less supportive of the idea than the commissioners. Some seem to believe Fort Wayne can afford to cut elsewhere to maintain bridges. http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080519/EDIT07/805190306
LATE-NIGHT WORK STARTING ON INDIANA 26 EAST
Journal & Courier
5/20/08
Work is scheduled to begin tonight on a $13.9 million Indiana 26 East surfacing
project that will restrict traffic between Sagamore Parkway and Park East
Boulevard between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. Work is expected to last until November. http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080519/NEWSPM/805190333
CITY SEEKS STATE OK FOR U.S. 31 PLANS
The Indianapolis Star
5/20/08
Leaders of a Carmel task force charged with giving the city's input on the U.S. 31 renovation say the state appears to be listening to their ideas. An Indiana Department of Transportation project to eliminate stoplights on U.S. 31 by turning it into a limited-access highway was shelved in 2003 for lack of funding but was revived early last year with new dollars from Gov. Mitch Daniels' Major Moves highway plan. Hamilton County's portion of the renovation is set to begin in 2011 and end around 2017. http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080520/LOCAL01/805200371/1001/NEWS