About 2 miles of roads in Greenwood and Franklin would be rebuilt and more than a third of the 22 miles of roads in Whiteland would be repaved with state grants local communities are seeking.
Local communities are seeking at least $3.5 million from a statewide grant program that helps fund local infrastructure projects. Johnson County communities received nearly $4 million in grant funds last year that was used to rebuild and repair more roads than would have been possible with their annual budgets.
Greenwood, Franklin, Whiteland and Bargersville are among the Johnson County communities that have applied for grants that would allow them to pursue more costly road repairs than the standard resurfacing that is done to local streets every summer. Communities with more than 10,000 residents have to contribute half of the total project cost, and those with a smaller population pay a third of the costs.
Both Franklin and Greenwood plan to reconstruct sections of roads, projects that can be expensive for even short sections of a street. In Whiteland, the plan is to resurface 8 miles of mostly neighborhood streets, which would be more than a third of the town’s 22 miles of streets.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryWhiteland plans to use a $750,000 grant to cover about $1 million in street repairs, the largest roadwork project that town manager Norm Gabehart can recall. If necessary, the town intends to spread out the work to make sure it gets the best price that it can from contractors who are busy with multiple projects from other areas of the state, he said.
“To complete a third of your town, that is absolutely huge,” Gabehart said.
The town only gets about $60,000 in funding for road repairs each year from the state, and will have to use money from its general fund to come up with the $250,000 match, he said.
“In my career, this is the largest, most significant contribution of assistance for local roads and street,” he said.
Community Crossings grants are state grants funded with money the state sets aside for local road projects. Last year, Franklin got about $1 million, which was used during the annual paving program. Greenwood also received $1 million, which is the maximum amount, and put that money toward rebuilding Easy Street in Imperial Hills as well as other preventative repairs, such as crack sealing.
This year, with more competition for the grants, getting them might be more difficult since more applications have been submitted, Franklin City Engineer Mark Richards said.
Franklin is requesting $1 million, which will allow it to reconstruct Arvin Drive, between Graham Road and Commerce Drive, Essex Drive and Hurricane Road between Arvin Road and Glendale Drive, as well as help fund the construction of a roundabout at Arvin Drive and Hurricane Road.
They’ll find out whether or not they’ll receive money again some time in August.
Greenwood initially intended to pay for the reconstruction of sections of Honey Creek Road and South Emerson Avenue with money from a recently approved loan intended to boost the city’s street repair efforts. But the cost was more than the amount of money the city had set aside for the work, Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers said.
Now, the city is requesting a $770,000 grant to cover the reconstruction of those two roads, along with Commission Road in the Imperial Hills subdivision, south of County Line Road, Greenwood City Engineer Daniel Johnston said.
Earlier this summer, the Greenwood City Council approved spending $3 million on road resurfacing and reconstruction projects, a total boosted by a $2 million loan which will be paid back with money the city collects in income taxes. The city will use funds that had been intended for the reconstruction work to match the state grant, Myers said.
Bargersville, which is also seeking up to $1 million in grant funds, plans to use the money for resurfacing and reconstruction projects, with work planned for Baldwin Street, County Road 300N and several neighborhoods, Bargersville utility administrator Niki Balish said.
The town’s portion of the funding is set to come from its annual road budget, she said.
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Here are the projects some local communities are asking the state to partially fund through the Community Crossing grant program:
Greenwood
Reconstruction of Honey Creek Road, from Smokey Row Road south to city limits
Reconstruction of South Emerson Avenue, from Pushville Road south to city limits
Reconstruction of Commission Road in the Imperial Hills subdivision
Franklin
Reconstruction of Arvin Drive, from Graham Road to Commerce Drive
Reconstruction of Hurricane Road, from Arvin Road to Glendale Drive
Reconstruction of Essex Drive
Construction of a roundabout at the Arvin Drive and Hurricane Road intersection
Bargersville
Rehabilitation and resurfacing of roads in the Timber Heights, Al-Mar, Three Notch and Treemont neighborhoods
Resurfacing and patching on County Road 300N, from County Road 400W to town limits
Resurfacing and patching on Indiana Street, from Harriman Avenue to Plummer Street
Resurfacing and patching on Baldwin Street, from Two Cent Road to South Street
Whiteland
Resurfacing in the Meadow Creek, Oakville and Brunnemer Ridge subdivisions
Resurfacing in the Old Town Whiteland area
Resurfacing Graham Road, from south of Whiteland Road to the town limits
Resurfacing Front Street, from Tracy Road to Whiteland Road
Resurfacing of Tracy Road from railroad to town limits
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