By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
Decatur and Berne have been awarded large sums of money in the form of state Community Crossing grants.
(In photo are, from left, Joe McGinnis, INDOT commissioner; Jeremy Gilbert, Decatur’s operations manager; Matt Schultz, Decatur’s assistant operations manager; and Gov. Eric Holcomb.)
The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) announced that Decatur will receive $810,5098.10 while Berne has been awarded $579,883.48. Both grants are for the milling and paving of streets.
Each community must provide a 25% match, which will amount to approximately $253,300 for Decatur and roughly $144,950 for Berne.
Decatur’s Operations Manager, Jeremy Gilbert, said the city’s 25% match will boost its total to just over $1 million, $1,013,135,12 and that will mill (remove top layer) and resurface at least nine streets next year.
Decatur has received several CC grants in recent years, including this year. In fact, Brooks Construction only recently finished lining the 11 streets it resurfaced earlier.
That work also included the revamping of 52 handicap ramps.
In addition, city funds covered the cost of resurfacing six alleys and two streets.
Among others receiving CC grants were: Ossian, $651,096.25; Portland, $153,164.10; New Haven, $1 million; and Wells County, $416,629.35.
Gov. Eric Holcomb announced late last week that $91.5 million in grants as part of his Next Level Roads program, created to help fund local road projects.
“Community Crossings continues to provide opportunities for Indiana local communities, large and small, to make connectivity and safety road improvements for Hoosier families and our visitors,” Gov. Holcomb said. “The importance of this matching grant program is immediately obvious as we take our award-winning statewide infrastructure network to the next level.”
Interested communities submitted applications for funding during a call for projects over the summer. The Community Crossings initiative, funded by the state’s local road and bridge matching grant fund, has provided nearly $1.5 billion in state matching funds since 2016.