GREENFIELD — The construction cones are coming.
The city of Greenfield’s street department is preparing for its summer street projects to begin, while the Hancock County Highway Department has started paving roads throughout the county.
The city will spend at least $200,000, street commissioner Tyler Rankins said. The county expects to spend about $2 million on road maintenance work through the summer and into early fall.
Greenfield officials identified nine sections of city streets to repave this summer. Crim and Sons Paving was hired to repave streets in neighborhoods and major thoroughfares.
The work is expected to cost about $173,000, and Rankins hopes it will be finished by July 31, before school starts. He said city officials and the contractor will meet next week to determine when the project will start.
Streets included in the paving schedule are McKenzie and Blue roads, Winfield, Roosevelt and School streets and Jasmine Drive.
The street department selected streets for this year’s paving schedule by identifying ones that are in the most need of repaving.
“We have pretty good knowledge on all of the roads. These are more of our main roads,” he said. “And they’re roads that are in pretty bad shape.”
Streets that see a lot of traffic and have higher speed limits typically are priority roads, he said. The department also prioritizes school zones.
Depending on when the first set is complete, the street department might put together another set of roads to repave this year, Rankins said. If the first set is complete by July 31, that would give a contractor time to complete more work before winter weather hits.
Additionally, street department crews have continued to repair potholes and will seal cracks throughout the summer. The city also is working to replace several concrete streets, which make up about 20 percent of Greenfield’s streets and are found mostly in neighborhoods.
Fixing up the concrete streets already has cost $27,000, and Rankins expects the department will spend more.
Rankins said road construction won’t shut down streets, but it likely will cause backups, especially on busy streets like McKenzie.
“The main thing is keeping our guys safe,” he said. “People will have to be patient. … Watch out for us as we’re out there.”
County officials plan to spend an extra $500,000 in road maintenance during the next few years, allowing the department to do more work, highway engineer Gary Pool said.
Most county roads will get some treatment this year, but not all will be completely repaved. Most of the work will be focused on sealing chips and cracks, and county crews will continue to fix potholes throughout the summer, he said.
Pool said that, in addition to addressing county roads, his department will work in neighborhoods, too. With 92 neighborhoods outside city limits, the work will take some time.
Work started this week in northwest Hancock County and likely will last into October.
“This will keep us busy all summer,” Pool said. “Be patient with us.”
He said highway department employees have been putting in extra hours since the end of winter to get roads repaired.
Officials use a cost-benefit ratio when determining which roads need to be addressed first, Pool said. And crews work to complete all the work in an area before moving to another.
“Stay patient; we’ll get to your road,” he said.
Nathan Riggs, Indiana Department of Transportation public information director, said INDOT isn’t planning any significant roadwork projects for U.S. 40, State Road 9 or Interstate 70 in Greenfield this year.
There’s a plan in the works to modify traffic signals at U.S. 40 and Broadway Street in Greenfield and on State Road 9 at Muskegon Drive, McClarnon Street and McKenzie Plaza. A schedule for when that project will start and be finished has not been finalized, Riggs said.
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The city of Greenfield hired Crim and Sons Paving to repave nine sections of streets throughout the city:
- McKenzie Road from the Meridian Street roundabout to 1,200 feet east.
- Winfield Street between Monroe and Madison streets
- Roosevelt Street from Harding Avenue to 650 feet west
- School Street from Park Avenue to Seventh Street
- Jasmine Drive from 1166 Jasmine Drive to 1303 Jasmine Drive; from Clove Court to 1435 Jasmine Drive
- McKenzie from Blue Road to Indigo Drive
- The intersection of Blue Road and McKenzie Road
- Blue Road from McKenzie Road to McClarnon Drive; including all turn lanes
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The Hancock County Highway Department will be busy this summer repaving and chip and crack sealing roads throughout the county.
Crews began paving projects this week in the northwest portion of the county near McCordsville and will work their way toward Wilkinson and Shirley, Greenfield and New Palestine throughout the summer and early fall.
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