Grant County and two of its towns have been awarded more than $4.2 million total for local road and sidewalk projects.
The county, Converse and Sweetser were awarded the funding through the Indiana Department of Transportation’s Local Public Agencies Program for 2018, meaning the funds will be available in 2018. The county will receive almost $4 million, with about $161,000 going to Converse and about $88,000 going to Sweetser.
County Highway Department Safety Director Tony Smith said the county’s funding will be used to extend Bethlehem Road southward from its intersection with Monroe Pike to Grant County Road 350 East. The extension would provide another access route for Stonecrest Manor and other area residents who are cut off when floodwaters from the Mississinewa River close Stone Road.
The area has repeatedly been cut off by floodwaters since Stonecrest Manor opened in 1969. County Emergency Management Agency Director Bruce Bender said during the flooding of April 2013 that, from 1969 to 2013, Stone Road had flooded during 22 different years and been closed due to flooding during 16 of those years.
The design of the extension project has been in the works since 1999, Smith said. The funding will be used to construct the new roadway and purchase some parcels of land.
The town of Sweetser’s funding from INDOT will go toward replacement of road signs like stop, slow and railroad crossing signs.
Sweetser Town Council President Travis LeMaster said the next step in the process is completing an inventory of current road signs to determine how many signs need to be replaced. The upgrades are part of a highway safety program and will focus on aspects of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) that require certain signs to have a certain degree of reflectivity and size of font, for example.
LeMaster said council member Steve Kelley worked on the project after learning the town of Converse did it.
For 2018, Converse received about $61,000 for signage and about $100,000 to continue sidewalk upgrades.
Converse was previously awarded about $180,000 for the year 2017 for sidewalk improvements on Jefferson Street.
Converse Town Council President Joe Lenon could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon, but he said in February the funding for 2017 would pay for sidewalks that will be extended or upgraded, including the addition of textured ramps at intersection corners, making the sidewalks completely handicapped-accessible and helping the town to meet federal ADA mandates.
“This project is basically to allow the town to be ADA compliant, which is now an unfunded mandate from the government. So we felt like it was very important to go ahead and get this accomplished,” Lenon said in February. “Our goal is that this will not only get us in compliance, but it will accommodate anybody so they can come and readily access any of the businesses downtown — whether it be the post office or Jefferson St. BBQ.”