County awards grant-funded paving bid; Community crossings to fund 11 miles of resurfacing this summer, contracts not yet approved

Brown County Commissioners awarded a bid for grant-funded paving projects set to happen throughout the county this summer.

Pending contract approval and funding from the state, Milestone Contractors will pave the full lengths of North Shore Drive, South Shore Drive and Beanblossom Road (from Fox’s Corner to Peoga/Spearsville Roads), totaling to about 10.6 miles.

The paving will be funded by $1 million in Community Crossings Matching Grant Program (CCMG) grant funding through the Indiana Department of Transportation.

Through the program, INDOT matches up to $1 million annually when localities invest in road and bridge repairs. Counties with populations fewer than 50,000 and cities and towns with populations fewer than 10,000 receive a 75%/25% match, while counties with populations greater than 50,000 and cities and towns with populations greater than 10,000 receive a 50%/50% match.

Commissioners received bids from five contractors, which were opened at the commissioners’ Jan. 18 meeting.

Milestone had the lowest bid of the five companies that submitted bids.

Contractors submitted bids to do the roads as individual and combination projects. Milestone’s total bid of $1,354,087.17 to pave all three roads was about $24,000 less than the second lowest bid from E&B Paving at $1,377,700.

The bid was accepted at the Feb. 1 meeting.

Highway Superintendent Mike Magner said on Feb. 1 that Milestone had submitted all required documentation and that the highway department had received a proposed agreement between INDOT and the county for the Community Crossings funds, which will now be processed in the Indiana Attorney General’s office.

Magner said last week he had drafted a letter to Milestone including a recommendation to use the contractors for grant-funded projects this year.

The contract with Milestone is set to go before the commissioners for approval at the Feb. 15 meeting.

This is the fifth consecutive time the county has received $1 million in state grant funding to help pave roads in Brown County.

About 150 miles of Brown County roads have been paved in the last seven years, Magner said last week, the grant funding having helped accomplish the amount of roads paved.

“That fund helps us a lot,” Magner said.

“We’ve gotten a whole lot further than we would’ve without it, that’s for sure.”

Local funding from the CCMG is for road and bridge preservation, road reconstruction, intersection improvements, guardrail replacements and signage, and can cover material costs for chip sealing and crack filling operations.

The news was announced on Dec. 6 that the county was one of 229 cities, towns and counties to receive a combined $119 million in state matching funds for local road projects, according to INDOT.

The CCMG was established by the Indiana General Assembly in 2016 and aims to advance community infrastructure projects, strengthen local transportation networks and improve Indiana’s roads and bridges.

Since its enactment, the program has awarded more than $1.1 billion in state matching funds for local construction projects.

The CCMG offers two rounds of applications each year, with the next call for applications occurring in January of 2023.

Communities can receive grant money from both cycles, but applications cannot exceed more than $1 million total.

In the nine-county area, the only counties who have received more CCMG money total than Brown County are Bartholomew ($5.8 million) and Monroe ($5.2 million) counties, Magner said in December.

The last round of Community Crossings grant funding was used last year to pave all of Clay Lick and Helmsburg Roads.

Locally funded paving

According to the paving plans on the highway department website, nearly 14 miles of county roads are set to be paved with local funds this year.

Those plans include: Grandma Barnes Road (2 miles); North Covered Bridge Road (.8 miles); Harrison Ridge Road (1.75 miles); Poplar Ridge Road (3.1 miles); Kent Road (1.4 miles); Stevens Road (.6 miles); Hamilton Creek Road (4 miles).

Bids for locally funded projects have not yet been requested by commissioners.

Last year commissioners awarded E&B Paving a contract for $3,118,771 to pave portions of Lanam Ridge, Woodland Lake, Hurdle, Spearsville, Three Story Hill, Parkview, Hornettown and Owl Creek roads.

Parkview Road has not yet been paved due to the construction of the waterline from Nashville to the Brown County State Park.

It will be added to the list of paving projects for 2023, Magner said in October.

Historically, there were three paving plans for the county ranging from 2015 to 2026, Magner said in October.

The initial plan was from 2015 through 2017, the second was from 2018 through 2020 and the most recent ranges from 2021 through 2026.

Since 2015, 165 miles of the 235 planned miles of road have been paved.

If funding allows and fuel prices get “back under control,” asphalt prices will also go down, Magner said last fall, the highway department will be able to overlay and improve every hard-surface road in the county within the 12-year period.

After paving plans are completed in 2026, Magner said it will be time to start again, perhaps looking at the option of converting high-traveled gravel roads into paved roads.