A German Township road long recognized for its economic development potential will be significantly improved this year.
Bids to upgrade Hartman Drive, located on the west side of U.S. 31 across from the Indiana Premium Outlet Mall, will be opened on Monday, March 29, according to the Bartholomew County commissioners.
However, the full depth reclamation work will require consistently warmer temperatures, so actual road construction won’t get underway until at least late May or June, Bartholomew County Highway engineer Danny Hollander said.
In January, 2020, a priority list from the Bartholomew County Highway Department stated that the upgrade and reconfiguration of Hartman Drive, was among the three county roads in most need of repairs or upgrades.
But money has been an issue. Currently, a section of the south side of Hartman Drive consists of millings left over after the county finished overlay work on the Southern Crossing, Hollander said.
The full depth reclamation that will take place on the entire length of Hartman this summer calls for grinding up old asphalt, injecting an asphalt binder into it and pulverizing it before blending and rolling the entire mixture back on it’s original location. This provides a hard base capable of sustaining a fresh new blacktop that creates a high-quality road, Hollander said.
But the improvements are also expected to lead to long-anticipated economic development opportunities in an area located within a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district that was established several years ago.
In 2018, the Bartholomew County Plan Commission first considered a proposed 65-acre business center with 13 lots to be built north of the Hardee’s restaurant. But specific proposals were tabled that year in order to address concerns brought up by city/county planners.
Today, the proposed development appears on the Breeden Realtors Commercial web page as the “I-65 Exit 76 Retail Sites/Multi-family Land” at 12180 U.S. 31, Edinburgh. It has a total lot size of 34.7 acres, with each parcel ranging in size from one acres to 15.5 acres, the website states.
As it did three years ago, the latest proposal calls for a road extending north from Hartman Drive behind the Hardees Restaurant to the new commercial development, Breeden associate broker Andy Roberts said. But instead of ending with a cul de sac as the 2018 plans called for, the new road would connect with U.S. 31 at North Presidential Way, Roberts said.
No commercial site is being developed at this time for a specific client, Roberts said. But the area has received a preliminary plat approval, which means parcels are ready to be marketed, city/county planner Jeff Bergman said.
The money to improve Hartman Drive this year comes from the Community Crossing matching grant program, administered by the Indiana Department of Transportation. The county will pay half of the estimated $130,000 project, while the grant foots the bill for the other half.
