Construction on a project to extend Main Street in Edinburgh south of its current terminus is scheduled to begin July 5.
The $1.2 million project will mostly be funded by a $750,000 grant from Indiana’s Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative, or READI program. With the grant, combined with money from Edinburgh’s street department, town officials approved a bid for the project from Indianapolis-based road construction company Milestone Contractors in April. Workers from Milestone will extend the road a half-mile from where it currently ends at Industrial Drive south to the town’s southern border at County Road 900 North. Workers will also extend Tobias Road east to meet the Main Street extension, Interim Town Manager Wade Watson said in an email.
“The project will enhance the connection of the downtown area with existing and future industrial development and it supports the new fire station being constructed on County Road 900 North,” Watson said. “This project will provide connectivity to Tobias Drive, with access to U.S. 31, creating another point of entry for commercial traffic. In case of traffic congestion, this provides town of Edinburgh public safety and emergency response another entry point.”
The construction is slated to wrap up in the fall. Along with easing congestion, it will also enhance access to 80-acres of industrial-zoned land within town limits and an additional 154 acres of industrial-zoned land that connects to Edinburgh’s utilities. The south end of Edinburgh, known as the Edinburgh Industrial Park, currently serves about 25 businesses with hundreds of employees, including Ditech, Challenge Plastic Products, Sacoma International, Hisada America and Hoosier Metalform, among other businesses, he said.
The road construction is not expected to cause any traffic disruptions, Watson said.
Town officials originally planned a Main Street extension project in the 1990s, when Edinburgh Southern Industrial Park was developed, but road construction stopped at Industrial Drive. Town officials have been planning for the current extension project since 2021, when they applied for the READI grant, he said.
