Nearly $4 million will be spent by the city of Greenwood for planned road improvements this year.
As part of the city’s annual paving programs, 14 streets and six alleys will be refreshed and repaved, city officials announced Monday. Officials will invest $3.9 million in the endeavor, which will be split into two contracts.
The first contract, $2.4 million, will be 100% locally funded. The second contract, $1.5 million, will be funded at a 50/50 split with the state of Indiana’s Community Crossings Matching Grant program, officials said in a news release.
For the annual paving program, city officials identify a base set of roads for improvements, along with several alternates that can be added based on bid prices. Because bid prices were favorable to the city and because the city had a strong balance sheet this year, the city will be able to pave the base set of roads and all identified alternates, officials said.
Major roads expected to see improvements done include Averitt Road between Apryl Drive to just south of Smith Valley Road and Sheek Road from Main Street to Grassy Creek Lane. Madison Avenue will also have a pavement refresh from the Greenwood Park Mall’s northern entrance to the road to Fry Road, according to city officials.
Other roads seeing work done include Hilltop Drive, Kensington Park Road, Meadow Circle and both North and South Forest Park Drive. All of the alleyways expected to receive work are located in Old Town between West Broadway Street and West Main Street.
These roads were chosen based on the city’s asset management and five-year road work plans. The roads chosen all have surface ratings that require them to have work soon, said Mark St. John, city engineer.
Officials also had to be conscious of what roads were grouped together for when they went out for contractor bids, he said.
“If you have roads spread all over the city, you probably won’t get as favorable a bid,” St. John said.
Paving is expected to begin this summer for both contracts. Utility work as part of the first contract is expected to begin in early April, with construction and paving work beginning in early May. This work is expected to be completed in 120 days, by the end of summer, he said.
For the second contract, the city is in the process of scheduling a pre-construction meeting with the contractor. But the plan is for the work to be done on a similar timeline, though it will be offset by a few weeks from the first contract, St. John said.
There are also different types of work being done for both contracts, depending on what is needed for the particular street.
“Some of these streets are seeing partial or full-depth reconstruction,” St. John said. “So on those streets, they’ll start at the curbs, tear the curbs out and put in new curbs, new driveway approaches, and then they’ll mill down or remove the old roadway and build a new roadway.”
Traffic will be maintained at all times for these streets, and the roads will temporarily be one lane at a time. This will take a bit of time, so officials ask residents to be patient and understanding, St. John said.
Other streets will just have paving work done, with crews milling the old roadway and putting down a new one. There will be flaggers and signs present, but the roads will not be closed, he said.
St. John encourages drivers to be cautious once road construction begins.
“If people are out there when those are under construction, just drive slow and take your time getting through the construction,” he said. “We’re doing our best to get it done as quickly as we can.”
WHERE WORK IS BEING DONE
The following roads will have road work later this year:
- Alexander Street (from Broadway Street to 185 feet east of Pearl Street)
- Averitt Road (from Apryl Drive to 435 feet south of Smith Valley Road)
- Beech Drive (from north dead end to south dead end)
- Brookview Drive (from Williamsburg Lane to Colonial Way)
- Chestnut Drive (from Forest Park Drive to Beech Drive)
- North Forest Park Drive (from Madison Avenue to Chestnut Drive)
- South Forest Park Drive (from Madison Avenue to Chestnut Drive)
- Hilltop Drive (from U.S. 31 to no outlet)
- Kensington Park Road (from Howard Road to Saville Row Road)
- Madison Avenue (from northern Greenwood Park Mall entrance to Fry Road)
- Meadow Circle (from Meadowview Lane to cul-de-sac dead end)
- Sheek Road (from Main Street to Grassy Creek Lane)
- Sycamore Lane (from Chestnut Drive to south dead end)
- Williamsburg Court (from Williamsburg Lane to cul-de-sac dead end)
The following alleys will have work done:
- From 336 & 346 W. Pearl St. to 331 & 339 W. Broadway St.
- From 349 & 351 W. Pearl St. to east/west alley
- From 367 & 375 W. Pearl St. to 372 & 378 W. Main St.
- From 381 & 387 W. Pearl St. to east/west alley
- From 421 & 431 W. Pearl St. to east/west alley
- From 412 & 418 W. Main Street to W. Pearl Street
Source: City of Greenwood
