Another INDOT project set to begin

Another construction project is set to get underway.

Beginning next week, Indiana Department of Transportation will start as “small structure replacement” on Indiana 18 in the northwest corner of the county.

INDOT will be replacing a culvert on Indiana 18 bridge between county road 1050 West and the Jay/Blackford county line. (The waterway feeds into Stoney Creek, which then feeds into the Salamonia River in eastern Blackford county south of Balbec Road.

Indiana 18 will be closed between Indiana 1 and Montpelier during the project. The official detour utilizes Indiana 3, Indiana 26 and Indiana 1.

The project that will start next week joins a lengthy list of INDOT projects in and around Jay County this spring, including on Meridian Street (U.S. 27) in Portland. The project involves paving Meridian Street between county roads 200 South and 100 north, reconstructing Americans with Disabilities Act ramps to sidewalks with extended “bump outs” at some intersections in the downtown area and replacing traffic signals. Brooks Construction, which is handling the project, is expected to take out traffic signals at Water, Main, Walnut, High and Lafayette streets this week.

Temporary stops signs will be placed at the intersection of Meridian and Water streets, making it a four-way stop, with other intersections involved becoming two-way stops with traffic free-flowing along Meridian Street. (Temporary “buzz strips” have been placed along Meridian Street at each intersection in an effort to encourage drivers to slow down.)

INDOT is also in the process of putting a new deck and guardrails on the Indiana 67 bridge over the Salamonie River between county road 125 South and Indiana 26. A temporary traffic signal has been installed with the area just south of Jay County High School reduced to one lane.

Just south of Jay County, INDOT is replacing the U.S. 27 bridge over the Mississinewa River between Indiana 28 and Randolph County road 850 North. And in Delaware County, Indiana 67 is closed from the Indiana 28/Indiana 67 split to Mississinewa Avenue (Indiana 167) for an INDOT project to demolish and rebuild a bridge over the Mississinewa River.