Bart Doan
BROWNSBURG — Grant Kleinhenz, town manager here, recently announced that the town’s 56th Street overlay project is set to begin this week and should come in at a price far less than it could have been.
Kleinhenz said the project will cost $611,000, which is significant because had the project been bid out, it would have been closer to $750,000. The reason was that Reith Riley, who worked on the Murphy Meadows and Grant Street project was already mobilized in the area and there is a statute that allowed the town to add this project to the company’s work load.
“Because (56th Street) received wear and tear, it was eligible to be added to the contract so we didn’t have to go to bid and we got a price that’s more indicative of conditions two years ago,” Kleinhenz said.
The project is expected to be completed within two to three weeks, which he said is a necessity since asphalt plants will be closing by the third week in November.
Kleinhenz said he had the support of various town councilmen to complete the 56th Street project and do it in a timely manner as well as the approval of the redevelopment commission.
“I think one thing we’re trying to do is, I hear that the roads aren’t in good condition and I agree with that,” Kleinhenz said. “I think with the projects we’re doing now like this, Murphy Meadows, Northfield Drive East and West, and Odell, our residents are going to see the roads as a perceived strength and not a perceived weakness.
“There was no supporting steel or iron rebar, therefore it failed quicker with heavy truck traffic. One of the reasons I felt like it was important to get done now was we needed to get that road upgraded and save money while doing it.”
Funding for the project was taken from available tax increment financing (TIF) funds.
Kleinhenz said a plan to add turn lanes and traffic signals to the intersection of U.S. 136 and Odell Street has been delayed and will not be started until 2013.
There is still utility relocation that needs to be done there, and the Indiana Department of Transportation cannot start work until that is complete. As a result, he said, INDOT has pushed the start date on that project back to April 2013.
“They generally do not allow road work on a state highway after Nov. 1 and (U.S.) 136 is a state highway,” he explained.
