The North Judson Town Council heard from Fleis and VandenBrink Senior Project Manager Mitch Hansel when members met last Monday.
Hansel described a sidewalk project that would run along State Road 10, which is referred to as Talmer Avenue within the Town limits.
In his preliminary project proposal, Hansel included replacing an existing sidewalk that runs from SR 39 (aka Schricker Avenue) to Wilson Street, as well as the installation of a new sidewalk that would run from Wilson up to the Dollar General Store.
Hansel highlighted the fact that INDOT offers an80/20 grant for this type of project that opens up November 4th and closes December 13th. He mentioned that with design and inspection costs, the price of the project would total around $528,800 and would require a $105,800 local match.
Hansel stated that this project would likely occur in 2024 but noted that they have been able to push projects up in the past so there is a possibility it could be done as early as 2022.
All council members agreed that this is a priority project due to safety concerns since currently, individuals travel in the grass along the highway to get to the stores on that side of Town.
However, while discussing the proposal, council members seemed to agree that replacing the existing sidewalk isn’t necessary at this time and they want to focus on installing the new sidewalk first.
Ultimately, Council members asked Hansel to scale the project down and bring back another cost estimate. He said he would be able to get that done in time for their next meeting on Monday, October 21st.
