Sidewalk projects planned locally

The City of Portland has made necessary steps to make a road pedestrian friendly.
Portland Blaine Pike Project will be a 1.2 mile-long resurfacing effort from Water Street to county road 150 South and will add sidewalk along the road with accessible crosswalks ramps compliant with the American Disabilities Act.
It will cost a total of $2,649,600 with INDOT paying 80 percent of expenses worth $2,119,680. The city would pay 20 percent at $529,920.
Jay County Community Development Director Ami Huffman said the Indiana Department of Transportation has a classification for streets and roads based on traffic use for resurfacing and must have high enough ranking. When Huffman, Portland mayor Randy Geesaman, county engineer Dan Watson and representatives from Beam, Longest & Neff were looking around the area, they noticed along the corridor, there is senior living facility Golden Age Retirement Village, Runkle-Miller Field, Jay County Humane Society and houses but no sidewalks for pedestrians.
Huffman said fixing this would make it easier for activities and residents in the area who had nowhere to walk along the road.
“It was classified high enough to be resurfaced then we added the sidewalk part to it when we saw the potential safety concerns down there.
“We wanted to add the sidewalk as a safety and community enhancement and ADA enhancement,” she added.
But contractor bids aren’t scheduled to go out until 2021. Construction should begin the same year and finished depending on the contractor’s schedule. Within that five-year period, the preliminary engineering and environmental work will be completed.
Geesaman said the city has been waiting for a couple of years to apply for funding from INDOT. He and other officials wondered what could be done but needed the financial assistance.
“Most (projects) we can do on our own,” he said, “but it’s a big project. It would be several different phases and take several years.”
This was one of nine 80/20 grants submitted to INDOT in May for the county — four were to repair county bridges, two for other Portland projects, two others in Dunkirk and one in Redkey.
Similar to the Blaine Pike project, Portland also two other sidewalk plans in the making. Bidding for these commence in October through INDOT. One was finalized in March after the city received an easement on the Jay County Hospital property.
That project, the Northside Greenway Pedestrian project will start at the intersection of Lafayette Street and Creagor Avenue near Katelynn Place Apartments, run west along Creagor Avenue just north of Lewis Street and head west to connect existing trail and continue around the pond to the south of the hospital. Phase one is estimated to cost $386,000.
Another, the Transportation Alternatives Program, will connect the trail to the west side of Judge Haynes Elementary School. It will run south on Middle Street from Votaw Street to High Street and continue west on High Street to the school. Phase two will cost $281,000.
The final sidewalk project in Portland will connect the trail from Judge Haynes Elementary heading east on High Street down to Meridian Street. It will connect to the Jay County Library and downtown Portland, cost $645,000 and Portland would pay $129,000.
Other 80/20 projects like Redkey’s sidewalk project connects low income apartment housing, downtown Redkey, Redkey Park Cabin, Redkey Ball Park and Redkey Elementary School together, installing sidewalks and crosswalks south along Mooney Street and east on Main Street for a total cost of $171,100. Redkey will pay $34,220.
Dunkirk’s Highland Avenue Sidewalk and ADA Project will create connectivity from Quincy Place residential community, Dunkirk City Park, West Jay Community Center and West Jay Middle School. It is worth $128,700. It will begin by installing sidewalks heading west from Highland Avenue to West Jay Middle School. Semi trucks from Ardagh Group, 524 E. Center St., Dunkirk, use the road frequently. Dunkirk will pay $25,740.
Dunkirk has another plan, the Decorative Light Project, not involving sidewalks to replace current street light posts with decorative lights from Chestnut Street heading north along Indiana 167 to Highland Avenue. Twenty percent of the $1,625,000 project is $325,000.
Future INDOT projects up for consideration would be matching dollar-for-dollar grants on Industrial Drive from Walmart, 950 W. Votaw St., around to Meridian Street. Geesaman said the state would pay an amount and the city would match, but this project could cost from $600,000 to $750,000.