Work is beginning today on repaving East 25th Street east of Columbus.
Milling work is scheduled to begin on the $2.235 million overlay from the Columbus city limits at Talley Road east to State Road 9, Bartholomew County Highway engineer Danny Hollander said.
Hollander doesn’t anticipate both lanes of the heavily-traveled road will be closed at the same time. But Bartholomew County Highway Superintendent Dwight Smith advises motorists to be prepared for multiple flaggers who will be directing two-way traffic onto a single lane in work areas.
Milling along the 5.5 mile stretch of East 25th Street should take about six days, while an additional five days will be required to put down a new layer of asphalt, Smith said.
Meanwhile, the county highway department has decided to, in Hollander’s words “bite the bullet” in terms of paying for overdue bridge improvements along the same road.
Two weeks ago, Force Construction Co. submitted the only bid for upgrading the concrete bridge over Clifty Creek on East 25th Street, east of the former Petersville landfill. Their proposal was $266,725, which is 57% higher than the engineer’s estimate of $170,000.
“We’ve got to do it,” Hollander told the commissioners Monday. “If we put it off until spring, (the cost) could be worse.”
Building a new bridge will likely cost more than $3 million, commissioner Larry Kleinhenz said. But the repairs, which includes strengthening sections more than a century old, could extend the life of the bridge an additional 15 to 25 years, he said.
Unfortunately for drivers, there’s not enough time to work on the bridge while a new blacktop is being put down, which means drivers will face delays two different times for two separate projects, Hollander said.
Once a timetable is set, traffic will likely be detoured south on to County Road 50N. While the county gave Force Construction 30 days to complete the bridge work, Hollander says he doesn’t believe the project will take that long.
Finally, a list of 20 proposed projects that will make up Phase II of the 2023 overlay project was presented to the commissioners
Money from the county’s allocation of federal dollars through the American Rescue Plan has left sufficient funds from economic development income tax revenue to put new asphalt down on additional streets without relying on outside grants, commissioner Larry Kleinhenz said.
“This is not unprecedented, but certainly unusual,” said commissioners’ Chairman Tony London, who added the first phase of this year’s overlay project totaled about 16 miles.
Bids for the second phase, which includes an additional 11 miles of projects, will be opened on Monday, July 31.
Phase II: 2023 Bartholomew County Overlay Program
— County Road 250S, from County Road 300E to 350E (half a mile)
— County Road 250W, from County Road 600S to 625S (quarter of a mile)
— County Road 350E, from County Road 250S to State Road 46 (0.26 mile)
— County Road 300N, from County Road 1200E to 1125E (0.78 mile)
— County Road 425E, from County Road 250N to 350N (1.01 miles)
— County Road 1050S, from County Road 200W to 150W (half-mile)
— County Road 1075E, from County Road 800N to 950N (1.5 miles)
— County Road 700S, from County Road 100W to west terminus (0.64 mile)
— County Road 300E, from County Road 275S to State Road 46 (0.94 mile)
— County Road 400W, from County Road 700S to State Road 58 (2.15 miles)
— Old Nashville Road, from State Road 46 to the county line (0.26 mile)
— Willoughby Drive, from Heflin Park Road to terminus (0.64 miles)
— County Road 700W, from Georgetown Road to Baker Hollow Road. (0.75 mile)
— Mulligan Lane at Fairways Farms, from County Road 525W to west terminus (0.23 miles)
— Nasby Trail at Daily Meadows, from County Road 550W to Deaver Road (0.36 mile)
— Artesian Court at Mineral Springs, from County Road 250E to east terminus (0.03 mile)
— Executive Drive at Manufacturers’ Marketplace, from County Road 800N to Presidential Way (0.19 mile)
— Maple Drive at Grandview Lake, from Bellsville Pike West to Bellsville Pike East (0.3 mile)
— Beach Drive at Grandview Lake, from Bellsville Pike to terminus (0.07 mile)
— Summit Lane at Grandview Lake, from Poplar Drive to terminus (0.14 mile)
