Local projects awarded grants

Federal funds were awarded today from the Indiana Department of Transportation for the improvement of several local roads, sidewalks and bridges.
In a push to improve the infrastructure of Indiana’s rural communities, INDOT awarded nearly $2 million to Portland, Redkey, Dunkirk and Jay County for work on five projects.
Communities must pay at least 20 percent in local matching funds and meet other federal requirements to receive the funding. But in the case of the communities awarded the money in Jay County, all of them will have to put up much more than that minimum.
In Portland, $1,084,000 was awarded for the rehabilitation of Blaine Pike. In the proposal to INDOT, the project’s cost estimated cost was $2,649,600. INDOT’s contribution to the project would account for about 41 percent of its cost, and the city would have to pay the remaining 59 percent.
The Blaine Pike work would include milling and repaving the road from the railroad tracks near Water Street to county road 150 South, said Jay County Development Corporation director of community development Ami Huffman. A sidewalk will also be added on one side of the street, but the final decision hasn’t been made on which side will be chosen.
Portland also received an additional $337,600 for the improvement of sidewalks on High Street between Middle and Meridian streets. The project’s cost estimate is $645,000, meaning Portland would have to cover about 48 percent.
Dunkirk and Redkey were also awarded money for sidewalk improvements, $67,200 and $89,600 respectively.
Dunkirk’s project is for new sidewalks along Highland Avenue between Johnson Street and Speedcat Alley, to connect Quincy Place, Dunkirk City Park, West Jay Community Center and West Jay Middle School.
Huffman said middle school students often have to walk through the snow or on the side of the road to get from Quincy Place to WJMS, and explained that Highland Avenue has a high volume of semi traffic going to and from the Ardagh glass factory. The $67,200 granted from INDOT will cover about 52 percent of the project’s $128,700 estimated cost.
In Redkey, the $89,600 will be put toward adding sidewalks to Main Street between Elm Street and Mooney Street and Mooney Street from Main Street to the Redkey Morgan Park. The project will connect downtown Redkey to the park, the cabin and, Redkey Elementary School.
The proposal to INDOT estimated the cost at about $171,100. INDOT’s contribution will cover about 52 percent, with Redkey responsible for the remainder.
Jay County was given $403,200 for work on a bridge over Mud Creek on county road 200 North just west of Indiana 1. County engineer Dan Watson said his grant proposal sought funding for four bridges.
“Kind of wanted four bridges all in the same project. Our original request (for the four bridges) was close to $2 million,” Watson said.
Huffman explained that it will be up to each community to decide whether it can afford to provide the remaining funding needed for the proejcts.
“We’re thankful for the chunk we received, we’re gonna have to examine each project for funding feasibility,” Huffman said.
INDOT spokesman Will Wingfield said communication and additional planning will happen with each community, and that INDOT may help with engineering and planning of the projects.
“Local communities conceive the projects and request the funding … these are their projects that we’re assisting with and often we look to communities to set direction,” Wingfield said.
In total, INDOT awarded nearly $80 million in federal transportation funding to 64 cities, towns and counties in Indiana today.
Participating communities will develop engineering plans and prepare for work to begin by July 2020.