A slight hiccup in the Monterey Bridge project has brought with it some extra cost—but not to Pulaski County. Jeff Larrison of United Consulting told the county commissioners this week that a small sliver of land along the riverbank slipped under their radar and must be acquired before the project to continue. However, because the parcel wasn’t appraised along with the other properties or included in the right-of-way engineering, an additional cost would be incurred.
“Somehow when we did the title search, it wasn’t picked up, and then when our survey crew came out to do the right-of-way engineering it wasn’t picked up, so it got missed twice,” said Larrison. “The good news out of all this is that all of this work, other than the check you would have to write the property owner, is being done at no charge to the county,”
While negotiations are underway with the property owner, Larrison says a meeting is being scheduled with the Indiana Department of Transportation to request an exception to their four-month waiting period after all permits and properties have been acquired before the project can be let for bid. He recommended a commissioner attend the meeting with INDOT as well, and Commissioner Kenneth Boswell thanked United Consulting for “stepping up” and working diligently to correct the situation.
Besides the final property acquisition, Larrison says the project is still ahead of schedule in the design phase, and if INDOT allows the exception, the project could be let for bid this spring.
