Widening to cost $1.7 million (5/6/05)

Preliminary plans for the widening of Industrial Park Drive, which has been estimated to cost $1.7 million, were announced Thursday morning.

Representatives from Schneider Corporation of Indianapolis, the engineering firm hired by the city to design the street widening project, held a public meeting about the project Thursday.

The firm plans to add 12 to 14 feet wide left turn lanes in the center of the street, and 12 feet wide right turn lanes where needed. Industrial Park Drive runs west from North Meridian Street, near Bandido’s Restauranté Mexicano, curves to the south, then ends at West Votaw Street, near CrossRoads Financial Federal Credit Union. All of the street will be widened.

Also, an S-curve currently located just north of where the Wal-Mart Supercenter is slated to be built, will be straightened, Schneider Corporation manager of business development Phil Metzger said. In order to straighten the street, a lift station for the city’s sewer system will have to be moved from the west side of the street to the east side. The relocation of the lift station would most likely be paid for through a $1.7 million Indiana Department of Transportation FA-3 grant the city plans to apply for. Otherwise, Portland Wastewater Treatment Plant funds will have to be used to pay for the station relocation, he said.

Whether or not a traffic light will be placed at the intersection of Industrial Park Drive and Votaw Street — near the new Wal-Mart — is up to INDOT, Schneider senior project manager Craig Rogers said. The traffic light is not part of the street widening project. Rogers said if INDOT decides to install a stop light, he hopes the two projects could be coordinated.

The FA-3 grant requires a 20 percent match from the city. The grant application is due May 13, Metzger said. City officials should know if the grant request is approved by November or December of this year, he said.

If the city’s grant request is denied, Schneider officials will encourage the city to apply for the FA-3 grant again next year, Rogers said. If the grant is not awarded this year, the city wouldn’t have the funds to go ahead with the project, he said.

Metzger said the fact that preliminary design work on the street widening has already begun, and the street is being built to welcome future developments, will make funding the project enticing to INDOT.

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Industrial Park Drive is being widened in such a way that another street could easily be built to branch off of it, behind the new Wal-Mart, Metzger said. This could be an invitation for future developments, he said.

“I think we’ve got a great chance, actually, of getting (the grant),” Metzger said.

Portland Mayor Bruce Hosier has high hopes the grant funds will be awarded for the project. “We’re gonna get funding, and we’re gonna get this thing done,” he said confidently.

Rogers said he expects the street widening to be completed about 18 months after the grant request is approved. If the funds are awarded this year, the project could be completed by mid-2007, he said.

Before the city learns if it has been awarded the grant, there is plenty of work that has to be done.

Sometime in the next week, a topographic survey will take place. After the survey is completed, Schneider officials will start drawing up plans for the street expansion.

The Portland Board of Works accepted a $93,000 bid by the firm in April to do engineering work for the project. This money could go toward the city’s 20 percent match, Metzger said.

Metzger said if the city is awarded the grant, INDOT will oversee the project. Also, INDOT will solicit the bids for the construction.[[In-content Ad]]