GREENFIELD — In some ways, the decrease in traffic during the COVID-19 slowdown has made Hancock County engineer Gary Pool’s job easier this year. For example, he’s seen a lot fewer car accidents.
The smaller number of cars on the road has also made it easier to complete road construction projects this summer, Pool said. However, even as traffic gradually returns to normal, the effect of the slowdown continues to be felt at the Hancock County Highway Department as tax revenue decreases.
With fewer drivers on the road due to COVID-19 lockdown orders and the closures of businesses, there is less money for road repairs.
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“It helped us with construction, but hurt us on revenue,” Pool said.
Pool said the Highway Department’s tax revenue is currently down approximately 20% overall compared with a typical year. The department missed out on about $100,000 each of the previous three months, he said, but revenue did increase in August. Less funding is also available from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization.
However, Pool said, his department kept enough funds on hand to still complete a significant amount of work.
During 2020, the highway department has completed two major bridges on County Road 500N and re-paving, microsurfacing and re-striping on County Road 600W from just south of U.S. 40 to County Road 300N. Microsurfacing adds a protective seal coat to roads that extends their lifespan. The department has done 20 miles of paving, 40 miles of chip-sealing and completed seal coating in 19 county neighborhoods.
“Half of our neighborhoods, we’ve resurfaced this year,” Pool said.
Total work this year has covered 151 miles of road, including 61 miles in residential neighborhoods.
Pool said reports on accidents causing injury or damage to vehicles are significantly down this year, but roads still continue to deteriorate due to weather and the simple passage of time, even if fewer cars are driving on them.
The season is coming to an end, but Pool hopes to complete some re-striping before fall.
“In two weeks, we’re going to wrap up most of our construction,” he said.
Tyler Rankins, street commissioner of the city of Greenfield, said making progress on road work has been difficult this year due to a decline in revenue from gasoline taxes.
“It’s hard going from $2 million last year to almost nothing this year,” Rankins said.
In August of last year, the Greenfield Street Department received $80,000 in revenue. This year, that number was $34,000.
That’s because, even though there are many cars back on the streets this month, there is a delay between when drivers pay for gasoline and when the street department receives the funds from the tax on it. Currently, it’s receiving the revenue from the slowest months of the pandemic.
“We may not be back to fully functional until 2022,” Rankins said.
The Community Crossings grant from the Indiana Department of Transportation, a matching grant which has funded many Greenfield road projects, also suspended the second of its typical two yearly funding rounds in July this year due to the economic disruption. The first round of grants for 2021 would typically start in January, but INDOT, which also relies on tax revenue for funding, will likely continue to feel the impact next year.
Rankins said he is hoping the grant will return in full force in 2021.
Despite setbacks, the street department is planning to complete one major project before winter sets in: resurfacing West New Road between Meridian and Franklin Streets as well as completing some right-of-way work for the new Yamaha plant on New Road. The project is scheduled to start Sept. 8, weather permitting.
The Indiana Department of Transportation took advantage of the early months of lockdown to complete many road projects while there was less traffic on the state’s roads and highways. In Hancock County, those projects have included the replacement of a bridge on U.S. 52 in New Palestine and patching on I-70 from Post Road in Marion County to the Ohio state line.
Work has also included a number of smaller maintenance projects, including chip-sealing and patching, according to INDOT spokeswoman Mallory Duncan. The department also scheduled work on State Road 9 between U.S. 52 and U.S. 40, but has not begun it due to fear of creating more congestion, Duncan said.
INDOT plans to resurface the road and replace its center turn lane with large medians on the north side of Greenfield.
Pool said he expects road work to continue being unusually difficult for a while. Apart from the tax revenue impact, economic instability has made supply chains less reliable and labor more scarce, as some people may prefer drawing unemployment to taking jobs. Even if funding for projects is available, he said, they may still be difficult to complete.
Some projects he hoped to complete in 2020, such the widening of 600W from 300N to McCordsville and the possible addition of roundabouts on that stretch of road, haven’t been possible.
Still, Pool said, he and his staff will continue doing their best to make the county’s roads safer and more reliable. And on the positive side, if tax revenue is up next year, there will be extra money left over from 2020 to complete more projects.
“All we can do is keep doing our jobs,” Pool said. “No one drives on our feelings. We have to build roads.”