BROWNSBURG — For years, town leaders here have attempted to get a road project completed along West Northfield Drive. They’ve run into delays of all kinds, but are finally ready to begin work this June.
“There will be a pre-construction meeting next week with the notice to proceed issued,” Community Development Director Jim Waggoner said. “We’ve talked to the contractor, they’ve already started ordering special materials for the project.”
The stretch of road along West Northfield Drive, which starts at State Road 267 and ends at the east entrance of the Kohl’s Department store, includes entrances to Wal-Mart, Bob Evans, Burger King, a strip mall, and other businesses.
“We’re going to take it and make five lanes on Northfield Drive, two each way and one center turn lane,” Waggoner said. “We’re re-aligning the intersection of Northfield to match the east, and we’re going to take all the entrances and exits out by Bob Evans and the bank and make a new frontage road with a traffic signal. It will be much better for everybody.”
There will also be a new entrance and traffic signal for Wal-Mart, and two more lanes will be added to the bridge over White Lick Creek.
“We expect it to help immensely,” Waggoner said. “The project that INDOT did at (County Road) 700 North helped, but we still have a bottleneck of our own.”
Most residents here have negative thoughts about the length of construction of the project that Waggoner referenced at C.R. 700 North. However, he said he expects the project to be done by November, with steep penalties to the contractor, E&B Paving, for delays.
“It’s going to be fast paced,” he said. “‘Get it done or you’re going to get penalized.’”
Waggoner said the road will remain open, though lanes could be cut down to one in each direction at times.
“Roads will remain open throughout the project,” he said. “That’s a stipulation in the contract. They will remain open. My suggestion to people, if they can avoid that area, please do.”
Town officials have been working to get the project started since 2005 or ‘06, Waggoner said.
“Right of way acquisition has been a real nightmare,” he said. “We had to redesign. It was one thing right after the other, and we spent a year and a half, two years, working with Wal-Mart.”
The town was ready to exercise eminent domain, if necessary, though all parties eventually agreed to the project, Waggoner said.
The total cost of the project is $3.5 million, though the original estimate was $6 million. Bidding out construction projects during the recession has proved to be a money-saving tactic for the town.
“We have good savings with this project,” Waggoner said. “When we bid it, we saved about a million and a half there. We’re excited to get underway and get this thing moving. It’s such a benefit to the town. We’re going to push it hard.”
charlee.beasor@flyergroup.com
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