HOPE — The streets that surround the Hope Town Square will get a new blacktop early this fall.
Road crews are scheduled to mill and pave Main, Washington, Harrison and Jackson streets by the square next month, according to project manager Steve Robertson of Strand Associates.
“All the concrete work is done,” Robertson said. “It’s just a matter of milling and paving.”
Crews have been asked to get the project underway on or after Oct. 7, Robertson said.
An effort will be made to do most of the major road work on a Tuesday and Wednesday, when the town square has the least amount of traffic during the week, Robertson said.
After the work around the square is completed, Robertson said crews will move on to mill and repave a section of Locust Street near the Hope Moravian Church, as well as High Street on the east end of town.
With good weather, those crews should be able to complete all of their work in Hope within about a week, he said.
Funding comes from a matching grant from the Indiana Department of Transportation announced early last winter. Under the agreement, INDOT agrees to pay 75% of the costs, while the town of Hope pays 25%, Robertson said.
In recent years, town council members have wanted to hold off repaving Washington Street, next to the square, until underground storm sewer improvements were finished. That project was completed earlier this summer.
According to Robertson, town officials also wanted the milling and repaving to wait until three of this year’s largest events are over: The Hope Ride which was on Saturday, Hope Heritage Days which are this weekend and the final Hope Cruise-In of the season on Oct. 4.
Under terms of the INDOT grant, the project has to be wrapped up no later than the end of this year, Robertson said.
