TERRE HAUTE — A county park project that has been in the planning stages since 2002 will now become a reality as Vigo County officials learned Wednesday it has been awarded a $650,000 grant from the Indiana Department of Transportation.
The federal grant, issued to the state by the Federal Highway Administration, is based on an 80/20 split, which means the county will pay $150,000 to receive $500,000.
The award is from the Department of Transportation’s Crawsfordsville District, which had $940,000 in transportation enhancement grant funds to distribute. The district received project requests totaling more than $2.7 million from five public agencies.
“With this grant, we will have enough to finish the project and fund the construction,” said County Engineer Jerry Netherlain. The next move, Netherlain said, is for the county to complete a contract to hire Jeff Plunkett, president of Accidental Discoveries, a Noblesville archaeological consulting firm. Plunkett has degrees in anthropology from Purdue University and the University of Michigan.
The company would perform a “phase 2” archaeological study of the historic Wabash & Erie Canal Lock No. 47 near Riley.
“The project includes rehabilitation of the existing [canal] wall, plus constructing a replica wall, plus an interpretive center,” Netherlain said. “The project includes a parking lot. There will be a walking trail, and because of the site, which is low, there will be a small pedestrian bridge and an interpretive center that tells about the lock and has some older photos of it.”
Netherlain said the construction project would likely start by 2012.
“In between now and that time, we have to get the phase 2 archeological [as well as environmental] studies, then have our consultant finalize design plans and specifications and then we can get it bid,” the county engineer said.
The entire project would cost $1.2 million, said Ron Hinsenkamp, chief transportation planner for West Central Indiana Economic Development District.
The project has been long in coming. Vigo County in 2002 was awarded a $400,000 state grant, matched by $80,000 from the county, for the park.
“The transportation enhancement grants actually have eight different categories of eligible activities and one of those is historic preservation and rehabilitation of historic transportation facilities and structures and that is what this project falls under,” Hinsenkamp said.
The Wabash-Erie Canal was 468 miles long and was the second-longest canal in the world. It extended from Toledo, Ohio, to Evansville. It was built from 1832 to 1853. The canal was extended to Terre Haute, opening in October 1849. The canal later bankrupted the State of Indiana and was abandoned in 1874.
Lock No. 47 is one of only two surviving stone locks in Indiana; the second is in Lagro in Wabash County.
Vigo County in 2006 assumed ownership of a 10-acre site northeast of Riley through which the Wabash & Erie Canal passed 160 years ago. The county obtained the site from the Indiana Junior Historical Society Alumni Association Inc., which had owned the land for more than a decade.
A $40,000 “phase one” archeological study of the lock by Indiana State University was started in 2003; however, the county did not receive a written report from that study until early 2007.
The county has included funds for the project in a development plan from its Economic Development Income Tax. As with all federal grants, the county would be reimbursed for up to $500,000 on the project, Hinsenkamp said. The county had applied for the grant twice before being awarded funds on its third attempt, Hinsenkamp said.
Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com
Local & Bistate
Wabash and Erie Canal Lock park nearing reality
County gets $650 to finish project
- Local & Bistate
-
- UPDATE: Marshall, Ill., school bus driver involved in accident dies; cause appears to be cardiac-related
-
Terre Haute road name game
What used to be called U.S. 40 from the Wabash River west through West Terre Haute to Interstate 70 needs to be renamed and, probably, get new street addresses, a Vigo County planner recommends.
-
MARK BENNETT: William Henry Harrison taught us how to campaign
William Henry Harrison is running for president, again.
It seems impossible, because today would be his 239th birthday, and America has never elected a deceased person to the Oval Office. -
Air National Guard cuts won’t hit 181st Intelligence Wing
The Air National Guard is taking the lion’s share of planned cuts announced last week by the U.S. Air Force. But no cuts are currently expected at Terre Haute’s 181st Intelligence Wing. In fact, the nation’s evolving defense strategy may spell growth at the local base.
-
Friends group takes over Ernie Pyle home in Dana
The western Indiana home in which renowned Hoosier journalist Ernie Pyle was born and an adjacent museum dedicated to preserving his legacy as a World War II correspondent have a new owner.
-
ISU rec center pool out of service while being repaired
Indiana State University is spending about $10,000 to repair a swimming pool at the Student Recreation Center, which opened in 2009.
-
Clinton man throws away, then recovers, $50,000 ticket
A Vermillion County man found himself in a scenario that strikes fear in the heart of Lottery players everywhere. He threw away a $50,000 winning ticket.
-
Show to feature talents of artists with disabilities
Artists whose disabilities have overshadowed their work get a chance to shine in the light of a prodigy this coming month.
-
Fort Wayne forester tells of damage
The emerald ash borer likely will cause as much as $8 million in damage to Fort Wayne’s ash trees by 2015, the city’s manager of forestry operations told a Terre Haute audience Tuesday.
-
Unclaimed assets now part of Goodwill auction site
Many of Indiana’s unclaimed assets are now on Goodwill’s online auction site, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller announced Tuesday.
-
Toyota to increase Highlander output in Indiana
Toyota will increase production of the Highlander mid-size SUV in late 2013 at the company’s Princeton, Indiana plant. Hybrid and export versions will be included. The project is expected to create about 400 new jobs at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana Inc.
-
Friends of Ernie Pyle takes ownership, renames Dana museum
The western Indiana home in which renowned Hoosier journalist Ernie Pyle was born, and an adjacent museum dedicated to preserving his legacy as a World War II correspondent, have a new owner.
-
Spreading Goodwill
Goodwill Industries Inc. on Tuesday opened its third Terre Haute store.
-
Feds sending money to Feather Creek
Clinton residents have reason to celebrate.
Federal officials have granted more than $800,000 toward a $1.2 million project of widening and deepening Feather Creek, which has been a flooding problem in the city since the Great Depression. Work could begin in spring 2013. -
City to clean up Toney site
A contaminated petroleum site at the northwestern edge of Indiana State University’s campus will be transferred to the city of Terre Haute to remove the property from a pending sale.
-
Bennett: Terre Haute ‘moving in the right direction’
After four years of shrinking budgets and a slow economy, Terre Haute is “moving in the right direction,” Mayor Duke Bennett said Tuesday morning in his first “State of the City” address since being re-elected by Terre Haute voters in November.
Difficult financial and political battles are largely in the past, he said, and now the city can start moving forward in ways not possible in the past four years. -
Terre Haute group locates missing caver
An Iraq war veteran and caving enthusiast took his own life about half a mile from where he left his car on a rural road but more than four months passed before four young spelunkers exploring where they weren’t allowed found him deep inside a treacherous cave, Indiana conservation officers said Tuesday.
-
Schools celebrate rising graduation rates as ‘team effort’
For the fourth year in a row, Vigo County School Corp. graduation rates have topped the state average, school district officials said during a news conference Tuesday.
-
Arrested officer already on administrative leave
A summons to appear in Vigo Superior Court 1 has been issued to the former police chief of West Terre Haute after a theft case filed Monday was transferred from a different court.
-
Parade to honor Punter for N.Y. Giants
A parade has been scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Friday to honor Terre Haute native Steve Weatherford, a punter with the Super Bowl champion New York Giants.
-
DNA match leads to arrest in summer burglary
A recent DNA match in an Indiana database has led to the arrest of a burglary suspect by the Indiana State Police at Putnamville.
-
Authorities still looking into Monday shooting of teen
Investigation continues into a shooting Monday in the 600 block of Water Street, which is near the Wabash River on the city’s west side.
-
General Assembly ready to tackle legislative bottleneck
After a timeout to accommodate out-of-town Super Bowl visitors, the Indiana General Assembly is back in session to tackle legislation that had been bottlenecked by a contentious labor bill.
-
Shakeout helps prepare for earthquake
Drop. Cover. Hold on! Those are the directives for the Great Central U.S. ShakeOut, a multi-state earthquake drill that happened Tuesday morning.
-
Website offers Valley health assessment
• The Wabash Valley Community Health Needs Assessment can be accessed at www.terrehautechamber.com.
It also can be found on the websites of both hospitals. -
Bolte Taylor exhibit will feature 5-foot-tall brains
An Indiana brain scientist whose memoir about her recovery from a stroke became a best-seller has dreamed up an exhibit featuring giant brains that will be mounted around Bloomington this spring.
-
Feather Creek project gets green light from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Federal officials have granted the funding needed to widen Feather Creek in Clinton.
-
Lost Creek trustee exploring possibility of providing computer lab for residents
A mobile computer lab has come to the Lost Creek Township Trustee’s Office to assist the public in job searches and applying for assistance programs.
-
Vigo schools see grad rate rise
The Vigo County School Corp. 2011 graduation rate improved nearly 4 percentage points and surpassed the state graduation rate, according to information from the state Department of Education.
-
Among Super Bowl ads, the stars were the cars
Lots of dogs and babies appeared in commercial advertisements for Super Bowl XLVI, but game-day ads also increasingly are pointing to social media handles, such as Twitter and Facebook.
- More Local & Bistate Headlines
Raw Video: Italy's Mount Etna Bursts Into Life
Ga Girl Fights Off Kidnapper at Walmart
Obama Gives Education Waivers to 10 States
Man Killed in Courthouse Shootout
Video of Ga. Man Who Killed Girl Released
Air Force Airlines: Leaders Get Polished Service
Greeks March; Angry Despite Debt Deal
Nevada Highway Patrol, City Settle Beating Case
Raw Video: U.S. Pullout Celebration
Foreclosures Down 34 Percent in 2011
Raw Video: Annual Empire State Building Run-Up
Homs Bombardment Continues, Global Outcry Grows
Androgynous Model Walks Runway As Man and Woman
Raw Video: Dog Rescued From Icy Colo. Water
Giffords Aide to Run for Her Seat
Winter Slamming North Asia, Parts of Europe
LA School in Sex Abuse Scandal Reopens
Syrian Forces Renew Bombardment of Homs
Eastwood in Super Bowl Ad 'Compassionate'
States, Banks Reach Foreclosure-abuse Settlement
Christie Brinkley's Runway Slip
Raw Video: School Bus Burst Into Flames
Lady Gaga's Battle With Bulimia
Evacuation at Sea
SJP Talks About Replacing Demi Moore in 'Lovelace'
LA School Reopens Amid Sex Abuse Scandal
Osama Bin Laden Zombie Movie: "Osombie" Teaser Released
Thomas' moratorium: 'I'm out, peace'
VS Model Quits Over Religion
NASCAR Drive for Diversity
Khloe Kardashian Responds to O.J. Rumors
Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week 2012
SportsTalk Live: Most hated athletes - 2/8
Louis Vuitton Condoms?!
Tiger Woods 13: Legacy mode
Michelle Obama vs. Jimmy Fallon
Buffalo Barges Into Car
