North Judson Council Chooses Town & Country for Franklin and Main Street Paving

Paving work on Franklin and Main streets in North Judson could be complete by the end of the month. The town council last week chose Town & Country Paving to do the work at a cost of just under $186,000.

Walsh & Kelly actually submitted a bid that was more than $7,000 lower, but with Town & Country already under contract to do other paving work in town this month, town officials hoped that using the same contractor would speed up the process. Town & Country’s bid still came in $10,000 under initial estimates.

The project will involve repaving Franklin Street from Sycamore to Main Street and Main Street from Park Avenue to Oakwood. Seventy-five percent of the cost will be covered by a Community Crossings grant from the state. The work was initially going to be funded as part of the town’s wastewater project, but using the Community Crossings money allows for more extensive paving work to be done and frees up project funding for other uses.

Fleis and VandenBrink Senior Project Manager Mitch Hansel told the town council last week that recent ADA sidewalk upgrades will end up costing the town $2,000 less than expected, even though the project went over budget. That’s because INDOT agreed to cover the town’s share of the construction inspection cost.

Hansel also said that INDOT has agreed to upgrade the sidewalks along State Road 10 to ADA standards as part of a paving project planned for next year. INDOT may also cover the cost of extending the sidewalk to the Dollar General store, which could save the town over $60,000. Hansel said he expects a decision from INDOT around September.