Ind. 26 project to begin 2015

The Ind. 26 East project has been on the horizon since 2001.
After 14 years, it will begin in 2015.
Indiana Department of Transportation will replace the street from the alley behind the United States Postal Service post office at the corner of Meridian and Water streets in Portland to the bridge at the eastern city limits near Jay-Randolph Developmental Services.
The city will also replace all the sewer and water lines that run beneath the street.
INDOT began considering the project in 2001, again in 2007 and in 2012, Mayor Randy Geesaman said.
It was in 2012 that the city pitched to INDOT that the water and sewer lines be replaced as well because they are between 75 and 100 years old.
“If you’re going to do this, you might as well do it right,” Geesaman said. “As soon as that road is down, you could lose it the next day because the water and sewer lines are in that bad of shape.”
INDOT agreed to add the utility work to the design of the project, but will only contribute $500,000.
The original project was estimated to cost $2.7 million. With the utility portion added, it’s estimated to cost $4.3 million.
“It’s a major thoroughfare, especially when people come in from Ohio and industries come in,” Geesaman said. “We always have a lot of traffic, not just locally but also interstate traffic.”
That’s why the city is adamant on replacing the sewer and water lines. If a water main or sewer break were to occur, the road could collapse, creating a serious safety issue, Geesaman said.
He asked INDOT to contribute at least $1 million to the utility portion of the project, but so far it’s resisted.
Geesaman said Portland is $941,000 short of what it needs to complete the utility work, but he and other city officials are working to find ways to cover that cost.
The mayor has been in contact with state and U.S. representatives to find grants and programs that could help pay for the project, but at this point, there is nothing concrete on that front.
The city can take a SRF loan if needed, but Geesaman would like to avoid that.
“Maybe we can still make it happen and we won’t have to borrow the money, but we may have to do that,” he said.
City officials and GAI Consultants, the engineering firm working on the project, hoped the utility work could be done for as little as $300,000.
But because the water and sewer lines are in such bad condition, they can’t be relined and must be replaced, increasing the cost of the project.
“That was the best case scenario we were hoping for,” Geesaman said. “Unfortunately, they’ll have to be replaced.”
The project is scheduled to be bid out in February 2015 and is expected to begin next summer. It will take about 18 months to complete. And it’s going to “dramatically” impact traffic in that area, Geesaman said.
INDOT is working on plans for how it will redirect traffic during that time period.
The project’s design also includes adding sidewalks from Meridian Street to the bridge. It will replace the current sidewalks, which end at Munson Avenue, and make them compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
It doesn’t include plans for lights, but city officials feel it’s important to have light in the area. Geesaman said bases for lights will be installed, and the city will apply for an INDOT grant available in 2019 to pay for the lights, which are expected to cost $200,000.
“Somehow we’ve got to keep this on track and move forward. We have to get this project done one way or another and in the mean time, we work on the financing part,” Geesaman said.