By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
The renovation of the Five Points intersection in Decatur is now moving full steam ahead.
It was announced at Tuesday night’s Decatur Board of Works and Safety meeting that American Structurepoint has signed a purchase agreement with the ownership of the Clark gas station/convenience store at Five Points.
The land on which the station is situated is needed to construct a roundabout to replace the current five-legged intersection.
The American Structurepoint engineering firm represents the city on the project to be done with federal funding and administered by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT).
Once all the paperwork is completed – perhaps in as few as 30 days – the city will own the property. It will be repaid by INDOT.
The project is pegged to cost a total of $3,057.690. The Federal Government is putting $2,442,352 into the project while Decatur’s 20% share amounts to $610,338.
City Operations Manager Jeremy Gilbert said the project is “way ahead” at this point and that bids could be taken perhaps in June of 2024.
“This has been a very long awaited project,” he told the board.
Gilbert said that once INDOT takes over the Clark property, it will remove the station’s underground tanks. “We only have to make sure they are drained,” he noted.
The project involves reconstructing the existing five-legged intersection to a five-legged single-lane roundabout. The roundabout will have single entry and exit lanes for all roadway approaches.
The center of the intersection will be shifted approximately 34-feet to the southwest to avoid impacts to historic properties in the remaining corners of the intersection.
