CLARK COUNTY — A new transportation plan outlining the recently completed, current and future Clark County roads and bridges projects is expected to help as county leaders prepare for the next five years.
The Southern Indiana-based civil engineering firm Butler, Fairman and Seufert worked to identify projects completed since 2012, those which are in progress and projects the Clark County Commissioners and county planners have identified as needs within the next five years.
The firm recently compiled a more than $5,000 study on the projects.
For each project within the plan, there is a photograph as well as a map showing the location. A short description of the nature of the work done or needed is included, along with construction cost, type of funding and year completed or projected to be complete.
All of the projects have been integrated into the Clark County GIS system, including information on location, construction cost, type of funding and year of construction, and can be updated as projects progress.
Commissioners President Jack Coffman said this was the first such plan the county had had in a long time, if ever.
“In our administration we have not had a good, detailed plan like this,” he said. “We finally got a firm that could do this in a lot more detail; take the time to go out and survey these projects, take good pictures and put it in a format that's simple for people to see and understand.”
Between 2012 and 2015, the county completed 19 county roads and bridges projects with a total construction cost of $19.6 million. Of these costs, $10.87 million were local dollars and $10.89 million from federal funds.
Included in the list are the realignment and reconstruction of St. John Road in 2013, the widening of Memphis-Blue Lick Road in 2014 and the completion of Star Valley Way in 2016.
“There's been a lot of work done throughout Clark County,” Brent Roberts, engineer and client services at Butler, Fairman and Seufert said. “It's easy I think for people not to recognize how much has been done because you only see what you're nearby or what you have to put up with driving through.
“So [this plan] is a really good reminder of the immense amount of work that's getting done.”
Thirteen current projects, with completion dates ranging from 2016 to 2018, have a total cost estimate of $17.84 million with $8.17 million coming from federal funding and $9.69 million being handled locally.
This includes the widening and reconstruction of Old Salem Road and Bethany Road, the widening of Stacy Road and the new alignment of the heavy haul road.
Projects identified for work between now and 2020 — there are 11 — have a total construction cost estimate of $54.94 million. However, one of these projects is the Airport Connector Road, a new road with two bridges which will connect the intersection of Bean Road and Utica-Sellersburg Road with the River Ridge Commerce Center.
In the transportation plan, the project alone is estimated at $40 million but with only 20 percent of that being the local match.
For the total future projects laid out for the next five years, the federal funds anticipated are $42.4 million, with local finds at an estimated $12.54 million.
“This will be a great benefit to us and also as we apply for future funding,” Coffman said. “This shows that we have a plan in place and is very informative in a lot of ways because it does give us our cost estimates and helps us be able to budget and plan for the future. It should work out well.”