County Highway Superintendent Updates Commissioners on Bridge & Road Projects

Jason Peters the County Highway Department Superintendent presented two permit requests to work in the county’s right-of-way.  The first request was from NIPSCO on Michigan Road between Hoham Drive and 4B Road and the second request was from Mediacom for a directional bore at 2930 Sycamore Lane in Bremen.   Both were approved by the commissioners.

The Highway Superintendent provided updates on the bridge projects the county has in various stages of construction and proposals. He said they are planning a second appraisal for bridge #104 on Elm Road while bridge #73 on King Road is preparing for pavement and wrapping up the final few items.  The King Road bridge should be open any day.  Peters said the letting dates for bridge #87 on 11^th Road and bridge #120 on Upas Road are getting pushed back to February 2023.  If they get pushed back into March, there is a chance the county could lose the funding for these two projects or have them pushed back 5-years.  The Queen Road bridge #9 is complete and is now open.  Bridge #1 on Ule Trail is a locally funded project with a projected letting date of November 2024.  They have completed the topographic survey and Hydraulic Discharge from IDEM on the Ule Trail bridge. The bridge on Union Road, #11 has all its permits approved and the stage 3 design should be completed in the next couple of weeks.  It has an August 2023 letting date.  The Randolph Street bridge #232 in Centennial Park will have the environmental submitted A.S.A.P. and Peters said the Purchase Order needs to be issued by May 2023 so the right-of-way lettings can happen in December 2024.  The final bridge project is #232 on Center Street in Bremen and progress is slow-moving.   

All the road projects including the Community Crossings projects, the adjacent projects, and the county’s 2022 Road Program projects are either complete or nearing completion with the remaining being weather dependent.

The Highway Superintendent reported that the county has gone from having 85% of the roads listed as failed roads with the PASER Rating to 40% failed with the implementation of his plan.  He did said that gravel roads are not figured into that percentage.