TERRE HAUTE — Terre Haute and Vigo County are expected to get $2.7 million in direct federal money for transportation projects from the economic recovery package signed last week by President Obama.
In addition, the Terre Haute Transit Utility would get about $225,000, targeted for rehabilitation of the city’s maintenance facility and the purchase of a new bus, said Ron Hinsenkamp, chief transportation planner for West Central Indiana Economic Development District.
“We are told [the federal stimulus money] is equal to one additional year of federal funding,” Hinsenkamp said.
The caveat is all projects have to be “shovel-ready,” which means all preliminary engineering complete and all right-of-way property purchased.
Terre Haute has one such project ready to go — Brown Avenue phase two, making a boulevard from Locust Street to Wabash Avenue. That project is estimated at about $1.8 million.
“The part that makes it the most appropriate for the stimulus package is that we own all the real estate, so there is no land acquisition, which we are struggling through on some other projects,” said City Engineer Chuck Ennis.
“We’ve got the whole engineering done. It is shovel-ready. We made a couple of modifications to the intersection at Locust Street, that includes removing a [proposed] roundabout. This leg still had the roundabout, so this leg had to be modified to remove it,” Ennis said.
The project involves keeping existing trees along the east side of Brown Avenue to become part of a boulevard separating southbound and northbound traffic. Two new northbound lanes are to be constructed east of the trees, with the existing Brown Avenue becoming two southbound lanes.
The city already has started phase one, with Feutz Construction Inc. of Paris, Ill., awarded nearly $1 million to build a four-lane bridge over Lost Creek at Maple Avenue and use existing concrete abutments near Kester Avenue for a separate prefabricated pedestrian bridge. The bridge is part of a trail that will be west of the extended Brown Avenue boulevard from Maple Avenue to Locust Street. That phase is expected to be completed in 2010.
Mayor Duke Bennett said he believes the city’s project to four-lane Margaret Avenue to Indiana 46 would have a much greater economic impact than the second phase of Brown Avenue. However, Margaret Avenue’s design engineering is not complete and land acquisition has not been made.
“That project will open up land for development, the interstate interchange will be upgraded and the bypass will come there. But it is all about the timing,” Bennett said. “Brown Avenue is all we got. We either don’t submit anything or we submit Brown Avenue. We don’t have a choice. Today, when the picture is taken, that is what it is.”
The second project is in Vigo County, to improve the intersection of Seventh and Springhill streets. The project is identified in a long-range transportation plan and was to be a county-funded project. It was delayed because of costs from a flood cleanup last year. Now, however, the project qualifies for federal stimulus funds, which would cover at least 90 percent of the estimated $1 million project, said County Engineer Jerry Netherlain.
“It will improve the intersection and have signals upgraded. We will have opposing left-turn lanes with longer approaches and more storage for vehicles turning,” Netherlain said.
“We did an analysis and it is ranked at a level ‘D,’ (ranked alphabetically), which means it is not operating at its peak efficiency of moving traffic safely because of the sheer volume of traffic,” Netherlain said. “After the intersection is rebuilt, an analysis shows after 20 years, it would still be at a level B, which is pretty good.”
From 2003 to the end of 2008, there were 87 reported accidents at the intersection, none of which were fatal, but 17 resulted in injuries, said Dan Wegner, transportation planner at WCIEDD.
“If you do not apply U.S. or state roads, it ranks second in Vigo County roads for accidents,” Wegner said. The intersection of Seventh Street and Davis Avenue is first with 107 accidents.
WCIEDD serves as the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for Terre Haute and Vigo County. The MPO’s policy committee determines what projects are eligible for the stimulus funding. The committee includes a representative from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT), plus Terre Haute’s mayor, a county commissioner, a county council member, county auditor, Terre Haute City Council member and representatives of Seelyville, West Terre Haute and Vigo County Area Plan Commission.
Hinsenkamp said the committee will meet in early March and is expected to approve the two projects for the stimulus money.
Once approved by the MPO, the project goes to INDOT and FHWA for stimulus funds to be obligated. Brown Avenue could be let and ready for construction in early summer, with most of the project completed this year, while the Seventh and Springhill project would be bid in the fall, with construction into 2010.
“The implementation procedures are still being developed and it is subject to change,” Hinsenkamp said. “We are using the best planning guidance we have today, but it appears that we are on track for those dates.”
Indiana is expected to get more than $6 billion in direct federal spending from the economic stimulus package for Medicaid, education, transportation and general aid to the state. That amount could be more than $11 billion when tax cuts are included, according to the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank that separated portions of the package that could be analyzed by states.
A requirement of the recovery legislation is Indiana must have 50 percent of its stimulus transportation money obligated to projects by the end of June, said INDOT spokesman Bruce Childs. All federal stimulus funds have to be obligated no later than March 2010, and projects must be completed within three years, he said.
“Projects will be funded on a first-come, first-serve basis. The sooner the project is submitted to us and gets obligated by the Feds, it will get out the door,” Childs said.
In addition, if Indiana does not have its stimulus funds obligated by March 2010, it will lose the remainder of federal funds, which will go to another state that has shovel-ready projects, Childs said.
“It is use it or lose it, and we want to use every dime,” he said.
INDOT already has submitted projects for the stimulus money, with 27 projects valued at $44.5 million in 24 counties. It also has projects for a March list, and is now working on an April list of projects, Childs said.
“If the project is complete in what is sent to us — the plans, specifications and the estimates — if everything is correct, the turnaround will be fairly quick. Here is the hook: If there are mistakes or [it] is incomplete, it gets sent back, and when it is re-submitted, it goes to the end of the list,” Childs said.
“Our goal is speed and accuracy. We want to get as many projects funded as quickly as we can, but the information has to be right,” he said.
Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com
• Terre Haute and Vigo County are expected to get $2.7 million in direct federal money for transportation projects from the economic recovery package signed last week by President Obama. Targeted projects, which must be ready to build, include $1.8 million to make Brown Avenue from Locust Street to Wabash Avenue a boulevard and nearly $1 million to improve intersection of Seventh Street and Springhill Drive.
• Also, another $225,000 would go to the Terre Haute Transit Utility, which would upgrade the city’s bus maintenance facility and purchase a new bus.
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