The end is in sight, at least for a while, for drivers who have had to navigate around Greenwood’s many road projects.
Several of those projects will wrap up next month, just in time for the holiday shopping season to begin, capital projects manager Kevin Steinmetz said. Drivers are detouring around a commercial corridor that was redesigned and rebuilt, a massive roundabout project at a busy intersection of three streets and downtown projects. Although drivers will get a break from the construction through the winter, several other road projects are in the works and are expected to begin next spring and summer, including significant work on Worthsville Road east and west of U.S. 31.
Work on Emerson Avenue, which started later than originally planned, is still expected to finish by the end of October. The Redevelopment Commission last week approved overnight work on that project so crews could finish on time.
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Milling will be done on weekday nights throughout September, Steinmetz said. The city has taken into consideration that milling can be noisy, but for the most part it is a non-residential area of the city, he said.
“There are some residents in the area — one neighborhood. But it is largely commercial through there. We’re being cognizant of the level of machinery we use out there. We’re hoping they can be through that small residential stretch quickly. But we’ll keep an eye, or in this case an ear, on it,” Steinmetz said.
“We’re doing it at night because we’re trying to limit the impact it has on day-to-day traffic, (and) the headaches it’s causing. It’s a balancing act.”
The city is rebuilding Emerson Avenue between Main Street and County Line Road. The center turn lane was replaced with grass and concrete medians and the road was repaved. The plan is also to add new signals at three intersections, decorative street lighting and a 10-foot trail on the west side of the road. Steinmetz said work on that phase of the project should begin next year.
The Emerson Avenue project was expected to cost about $3.5 million, but has gone up slightly as crews have had to replace several storm water drains. It added about $50,000 to the total cost, Steinmetz said.
“They are 20-plus years old. We’d rather just fix these things now,” he said.
Construction of a roundabout at Smith Valley Road and Madison Avenue is out of the city’s control for the most part, Steinmetz said. The Indiana Department of Transportation is in charge of the project.
The city has been told that work on the project is still expected to finish by the end of October as planned, he said.
“It’s still on track and should be substantially complete and back open by Halloween,” Steinmetz said.
“Knock on wood it doesn’t rain every day between now and October.”
Downtown, a new road was built south of the Greenwood Public Library between Surina Way and Market Plaza. The intersection of Meridian Street and Surina Way was lowered to increase visibility for drivers. And a 178-space parking lot with an underground stormwater retention system was built at the southeast corner of Meridian Street and Surina Way.
The road is paved and the parking lot is complete and open to the public, Steinmetz said. Crews still need to install lighting and do landscaping, but Steinmetz expects that will be done by mid-October.
“The big thing that makes it hard to put an end date on these is landscaping. We’re looking for that magic gap when it’s not too hot and it’s not freezing,” Steinmetz said.
They plan to tackle the landscaping between Oct. 4 and Oct. 22, he said.
Contractors decided to add curbs at Married Lane and repave parts of Meridian Street, neither of which were part of the original plan. But the total cost of that project is still expected to be about $3.7 million.
Reconstruction of Madison Avenue from Pearl to Noble streets is still on track for a mid-October completion, Steinmetz said.
That project involved removing the center turn lane, adding a 12-foot-wide trail with a grass buffer and two marked pedestrian crossings, one with a stop signal.
Crews will have to replant trees in the area. Several ash trees had to come down because they were dead, he said.
The original contract on that project was for $1.8 million, but the city budgeted for $2.2 million, Steinmetz said. They expect to come in well below that amount.
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Several road projects are underway in Greenwood. Here is a look at when they are expected to finish for the season:
Surina Way and Market Plaza connector road, new parking lot
End date: Oct. 15
Madison Avenue from Pearl Street to Noble Street
End date: Oct. 15
Emerson Avenue between Main Street and County Line Road
End date: Oct. 31
Roundabout at Smith Valley Road and Madison Avenue
End date: Oct. 31 (tentative)
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