Board of Works approves Community Crossings contract

Agreeing to a contract with the Indiana Department of Transportation, the Greencastle Board of Works has given a green light to the city’s Community Crossings project.

The board agreed Wednesday to a $761,186 grant agreement that will help fund improvements to 10th Street/Round Barn Road and the Wood and Tennessee street sides of Robe-Ann Park.

The grant requires a 50-50 match, which obligates the city to $761,186 as well.

That money, Mayor Bill Dory said, will come from the Street Department budget as well as from the Greencastle Redevelopment Commission, which has agreed to match the Round Barn Road portion of the project.

EDIT dollars also have been set aside for the stormwater work involved in the project, the mayor said.

“The engineers are working hard on this,” Dory said as board members Trudy Selvia and Craig Tuggle listened via Zoom. “We have already contacted all the property owners along Tennessee Street, and so far everyone has been very positive about what we’ve got planned there."

Bid letting on the project will be sometime in March, City Attorney Laurie Hardwick said, with the project likely awarded in April. That should lead to a late spring construction start.

“We have 18 months to complete the whole project,” Hardwick explained.

Utility relocation will also be involved, the mayor said, particularly along Wood and Tennessee streets.

The project also will add sidewalks along the east and south sides of Robe-Ann Park.

“That will make things so much safer,” Hardwick said.

The street segments involved are:

• 10th Street/Round Barn Road – from Indianapolis Road north to the city limits.

• Wood Street – from Washington Street to Tennessee Street.

• Tennessee Street – from Bloomington Street to Wood Street.

The Wood and Tennessee street portions of the work will serve to upgrade those areas in anticipation of local traffic diverting around road work scheduled during the major U.S. 231 project that INDOT is planning in either 2022 or 2023.

Overall, these projects will include pavement rehabilitation to improve the pavement condition and extend the roadway’s life, including some areas of mill/overlay with patching and some areas of full-depth pavement replacement.

Each segment also includes improvements to drainage (curbing, storm drainage, underdrains) and sidewalk connectivity.

The 10th Street (Round Barn Road) project will include pavement rehabilitation (some areas of milling and overlay with spot patching and some areas of full-depth pavement replacement). Sidewalk and curb gaps along the west side of the corridor will be connected with new curbing and sidewalk. Sidewalk ramps will be added or modified as needed to be ADA compliant. Underdrains will be added with the new curbing to improve subsurface drainage.

The Wood Street project will include pavement rehabilitation, some areas of milling and overlay with spot patching and some areas of full-depth pavement replacement. Sidewalk and curb gaps along the corridor will be connected with new curbing and sidewalk, including new sidewalk along the Robe-Ann Park property. Sidewalk ramps will be added or modified as needed to be ADA compliant. Underdrains will be added with the new curbing to improve subsurface drainage.

The Tennessee Street project will include pavement rehabilitation, the majority of which will be full-depth pavement replacement. New curb and gutter will be constructed along both sides. Sidewalk connection will be added on the north side of Tennessee Street along Robe-Ann Park property. Sidewalk ramps will be added or modified as needed to be ADA compliant. Underdrains will be added with the new curbing to improve subsurface drainage with storm drainage provided to improve surface runoff. Curbing along the south side will also serve to improve access control to the roadway corridor, transforming a continuous paved access to defined driveway approach locations.

Approval of the agreement necessitated a special Board of Works session Wednesday because the state required approval within four weeks of the Dec. 17 grant announcement. The contract agreement was passed unanimously on a motion by Selvia.

The Board of Works will next meet in regular session at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20 at City Hall.