A marathon’s worth of road repaving projects will be completed this season in Monroe County, aided by a $1.5 million grant from the Indiana Department of Transportation’s (INDOT’s) Community Crossing grant program.
A $2.7-million contract with Milestone Contractors for 26 miles worth of road projects was approved by county commissioners at their regular Wednesday meeting.
In other grant award news, a couple of big logjams on Brummett’s Creek in eastern Monroe County will get cleared out with the help of a $25,000 grant from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources LARE (Lake and River Enhancement Program)
At their regular Wednesday meeting, county commissioners approved the LARE grant agreement with Indiana’s DNR.
Since 2016, INDOT’s Community Crossing grant program has provided funding for local governmental units in response to applications for specific projects. This year the annual total limit for two rounds of funding has been bumped from $1 million to $1.5 million.
The $1.5-million award that Monroe County received in the first round of funding means the county government has maxed out its potential award from the fund for this year, and will not be able to apply for the second round of funding.
The city of Bloomington received $745,893 in the first round of Community Crossing funding, which means the city government could still receive some money in the second round later this year.
Monroe County highway director Lisa Ridge said during the commissioners meeting on Wednesday that the stage had been set for the 26 miles of repaving work as soon as last fall, when the county council was putting together the 2024 budget. The required 50-percent match for the hoped-for Community Crossing grant was incorporated into the 2024 budget with an appropriation from the county’s rainy day fund.
The 26 miles worth of roads in Wednesday’s approved contract include: Mt. Pleasant Rd.; Monroe Dam Rd.; Valley Mission Rd.; Sewell Rd.; Rockport Rd.; Brummetts Creek Rd.; Ramp Creek Rd.; Popcorn Rd.; Vernal Pike; Chambers Pike; Zikes Rd.; Woodland Rd.; Oak Ridge Rd.; and all of Shelburn Woods Subdivision.
That’s not the only road work that the county will be doing this year.
Ridge told The B Square after Wednesday’s meeting that she expects another 25 miles worth of roads to be handled through the standard funding source for such work, which is the highway fund.
Ridge said that it is only because the county has a road maintenance plan for this year that will exhaust the money in its highway fund, that the rainy day fund can be tapped as matching money for the road work paid for through the Community Crossings grant. The highway fund, which gets revenue from the gasoline tax, has to be fully committed to road work, Ridge said, before other monies can be used.
Ridge was keen to clarify that property taxes don’t get tapped for road work. Property tax bills have started landing in landowner mailboxes, Ridge said, and she has received calls asking why the roads in front of a landowner’s property are not getting fixed—given that they are required to pay property taxes. It’s the gasoline tax that provides revenue to the highway fund, not property taxes, Ridge said.
For the Brummett’s Creek logjam, it was Kelsey Thetonia, the county’s stormwater program manager, who presented the grant agreement to commissioners. The issue got discussion at the Dec. 13, 2023 meeting of the Monroe County stormwater management board, which consists of the three county commissioners and the county surveyor, who is Trohn Enright-Randolph.
In the on-the-ground photograph taken by Thetonia in January of this year and from the aerial imagery from the county’s online property lookup system, which is dated March 11, 2024, it is evident that a big tree fell across the creek, and debris has piled up on the upstream side.
The LARE (Lake and River Enhancement Program) funds will cover 80 percent of the cost, up to $25,000.
Thetonia told commissioners that she wants to make sure that the ground is dry before the work is started to remove the logjam. Matts or plywood might have to be used to make sure the heavy equipment doesn’t rut the ground, Thetonia said. An erosion control plan is in place, she said.
Monroe County highway director Lisa Ridge, a community treasure