Last week members of the Plymouth Redevelopment Commission
Received an update on projects in TIF District #3, U.S. 30/Pine Road by City Attorney Sean Surrisi.
Surrisi told the commission VS Engineering has completed several different designs for an upcoming project on Commerce Street. The primary project they would like to advance to put it out to bid over the winter and construction to begin in the spring of 2024 is the improvement to Commerce Street.
Commerce Street leads back to the city’s Pine Road Water Treatment Facility off Pioneer Drive. It also serves Pretzel’s Inc., Plymouth Molding Group, and Harrington Noodles.
Cost estimates presented to Redevelopment Commission members include building out the road from Pioneer Drive to the portion of the road that turns into gravel towards the west. That cost estimate was $205,700. There are some alternatives with different subgrade treatments that could be needed. Surrisi said another estimate has to do with Commerce Street expanding further west from where it turns into gravel to the back entrance of the western parking lot of Pretzels. He said there is lots of truck traffic in and out of that lot. That estimate is $146,900 with some subgrade alternates at an additional cost.
The City Attorney said they are thinking about packaging the two Commerce Street projects together with the primary being the eastern portion of the road and seeing where the costs come in for moving the project further to the west.
Redevelopment Commission members were not asked to decide on the project during their October meeting but will have a month to review the plans and in November determine if they want to move forward with the project.
The City Attorney said other projects have been designed and have estimates but are needed in the future. He suggested they might be able to coordinate with the City Street Department in some of their normal projects.
The first project is Pioneer Drive from the state’s right-of-way at U.S. 30 northbound to the Gary Drive loop. He said, “This would redo the pavement ]0up to the northern part of the loop of Gary Drive. Anyone who’s been out there knows it’s pretty rough as you pull off 30 and where you turn off into Loves or Corteva.” Surrisi said the estimate is $390,000 with several other quite large subgrade treatment alternates that may be needed as they mill out the pavement. He said the Street Department has done some core samples in this area to assist with the project plans.
The are other segments of Gary Drive in the proposal.
Redevelopment President Mike Miley asked if there was any hope that INDOT would assist in the cost of that project since it’s the road connects to US 30 and INDOT’s substation is also on Pioneer with their trucks coming in and out day after day and year after year. The City Attorney said they could address the project with INDOT to see if they would have any interest.
Surrisi said the hotel project, Hampton Inn, at the southwest corner of Pioneer Drive and US 30 is still in the plans. He said about a month ago he spoke with the developer, and they anticipated submission of plans to the city soon. There is still hope for a groundbreaking yet this year.
