Construction work has begun on East 25th Street for a new Bartholomew County Highway Garage east of Petersville.
Milestone Contractors employees and county highway workers began moving dirt for the first time Monday, county highway engineer Danny Hollander said.
Project consultant David Doup has requested that a formal groundbreaking ceremony for the $7.1 million facility, just east of the Clay Township Fire Department, be put on hold until an adequate area of weeds and grass can be removed, commissioner Chairman Carl Lienhoop said.
Although it wasn’t visible to motorists on East 25th Street, county highway crews spent a considerable amount of time last week installing a berm and a drainage ditch near the neighboring Royal View subdivision in Petersville, Commissioner Larry Kleinhenz said.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
Residents who live on Royal View’s east side who own property that occasionally sustains flood damage expressed concern the new garage would aggravate the flooding problems.
But more than a year ago, the commissioners agreed to build a ditch north of Royal View that turns south at a new berm that separates the neighborhood from a farm field to the east. Plans indicate the ditch will carry storm water south down to near Lee Court before it veers to the east and empties into a stream.
While groundbreaking for the new garage was originally scheduled for June 2019, a variety of unforeseen developments caused delays.
For example, no company offered to perform General Trades tasks that include framing, drywall, paneling, glass, glazing, doors, frames, flooring and painting when bids were opened in September 2019. It took six more months before General Trades was broken down into smaller jobs before four companies agreed to bid on those projects last March.
While Milestone and county employees are only handling site development going on at the moment, several different companies have been hired to build different parts of the facility.
In addition, all contractors spent several weeks examining and evaluating all plans in an effort to head off potential problems or inefficiencies prior to construction, Doup told the commissioners in March.
“The highway garage will be a very complex operation with intricate machinery that must work correctly from the moment operations get underway,” he said.
Milestone’s construction schedule at the State Road 46/State Road 11 overpass on Columbus’ west side has also been a factor in delays, as well as inclement weather last fall, Lienhoop said.
On Monday, Milestone accepted another big job on its plate. The company was awarded a $1.7 million contract to repave 18.27 miles of rural Bartholomew County roads during the next phase of the 2020 overlay project.
With six different offices in Indiana, the company can pull crew members from other communities if additional workers are needed in Bartholomew County, Milestone representatives have said in previous interviews. In addition, the company has until the end of the year to complete the overlay work.
