Roadwork season wrapping up soon

In the coming weeks, as the temperature falls, months of construction work will be coming to an end.

Crews are working to finish projects, from striping state highways to rebuilding Jefferson Street in Franklin. And in other areas, such as the unincorporated parts of the county, most work already has come to an end.

This week, you still can expect to see workers on U.S. 31 in Greenwood where crews are wrapping up the final pieces of this year’s paving project. Workers are installing signals that connect to traffic lights, requiring some lane closures at night, Indiana Department of Transportation spokesman Harry Maginity said. That work also recently was done on State Road 135, where the road was also repaved.

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Some final touches, such as landscaping, still will need to be completed later, he said.

Around the county, where crews were planning $2.2 million in work to repave and maintain more than 100 miles of county roads, workers are finishing a few smaller projects, but some of the projects were not able to be finished this year due to issues with equipment, county highway director Luke Mastin said. Those projects are set to be completed in the spring, before crews would start on the 2018 project list, he said.

And in Franklin, work is continuing along Jefferson Street where crews have been rebuilding the road in sections. But crews already completed more than $1 million in other projects to repave and rebuild city streets, including neighborhood streets along with Arvin Drive and Hurricane Road, Franklin city engineer Mark Richards said.

Work is continuing on the fourth section of Jefferson Street, from Home Avenue to the railroad tracks, where crews are expected to begin paving by Nov. 10, Richards said.

That section of the road is running on schedule and is set to reopen by Nov. 30 with temporary road markings, he said. Permanent markings, such as for parking and crosswalks, will have to wait until the spring when temperatures are warmer, he said.

City officials are now looking toward next year, when three roundabouts are set to be built and work will continue on King Street, the next phase in the project to rebuild Jefferson and King streets from U.S. 31 to Interstate 65. The city is also planning to spend more than $1 million on alley work and paving projects, he said.

Next year, the city is planning two new roundabouts at Eastview Drive and Upper Shelbyville Road, and at the intersection where Hurricane Road meets with Eastview Drive and Arvin Drive, he said.

A third roundabout is planned to be built at King Street and Eastview Drive as part of the ongoing reconstruction project along Jefferson and King streets, he said. Work is also planned to rebuild King Street, from Middleton Drive to Eastview Drive, which will be closed to traffic, he said.

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Here is a look at some major local road construction projects and where they stand:

State Road 135 repaving: complete

U.S. 31 repaving: nearly complete, crews are working at night installing signals that connect to traffic lights

Jefferson Street: work on the section from Home Avenue to the railroad tracks is running on time, and set to reopen by Nov. 30

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