新闻

井县 is receiving more than $1.1 million in federal money to move the Hoosier Highway west, allowing traffic traveling to and from the Bluffton-Decker Industrial Park to avoid three railroad crossings.

Wells is one of five Indiana municipalities and 63 projects nationwide to receive a share of $570 million from the Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program, according to a federal announcement Monday. The money is part of the 2021 Infrastructure and Jobs Act, and its purpose is to reduce collisions between trains and road vehicles and reduce blocked crossings.

内特Rumschlag, 威尔斯郡工程师, said the Norfolk Southern railroad’s tracks are busy, and the Hoosier Highway connects the industrial park to Indiana 218 and brings traffic up from further south around Montpelier.

Trucks and workers can get held up by trains more than once, because the Hoosier Highway travels diagonally from southwest to northeast, 他说. They first cross the Norfolk Southern tracks south of Bluffton while going east. Vehicles going to the industrial park or the west side of the city then cross tracks again going west on another road.

“By moving a mile of road, drivers can avoid the railroad tracks,” Rumschlag said.

The project will extend South Adams Street, 在布拉夫顿的西边, further south of its stop at a T-intersection with East County Road 200 South, 他说. The new section will go south until it hits the Hoosier Highway.

The new road will keep industrial park traffic away from residential areas, too, Rumschlag added.

Bidding for the project could come by 2月ruary 2024, and construction could be completed by fall 2025, 他说. Planning for the new route began in 2018, and 井县 received previous grants.

When the Indiana Department of 运输 and the county heard about the Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant, they applied for it as partners, 他说. The new grant expedites the work and eases the local financial burden.

The federal news release said the project will create continuous traffic flow and reduced delays. The project funding includes $4 million previously received from Federal Highway Administration funds. 井县, the state of Indiana and Norfolk Southern will contribute 87% in matching funds toward the total cost.

乍得克莱恩, executive director for 井县 Economic Development, said the new stretch of road will benefit businesses and workers. Some of 井县’s biggest employers are in the Bluffton-Decker Industrial Park, 哪个代表大于2,000个制造业岗位. Businesses in the industrial park include Peyton’s Northern Distribution Center, which delivers to Kroger stores, and the Valero Renewable Fuels ethanol plant.

“I see this as a major development to the transportation and logistics,” Kline said.

Businesses seek direct transport lines, and that could influence employers to come to 井县, 他说. The industrial park still has open lots and a 200,000-square-foot speculative building available.

Other Indiana communities also received funding.

秘鲁收到了76美元,000 for a study of six at-grade – or ground level – railroad and one underpass along the Norfolk Southern tracks, 新闻稿说. This study will assess the feasibility of eliminating one or more crossings and of constructing an additional underpass or overpass.

“Trains are required to stop at the nearby rail yard for crew transfers, which results in frequent crossing blockage,新闻发布会上说.

Hammond was granted up to $7 million for a Governors Parkway Railroad Overpass Project. It will eliminate two at-grade crossings, 新闻稿说. The city will build an overpass and new road alignment to be called Governor’s Parkway.

加里将得到最多4美元.5 million for its Buffington Harbor Gateway Project. Proposed reconstruction of a roadway between a newly built overpass and another road will eliminate eight at-grade crossings that see 134 trains a day.

Schererville was granted up to $8.4 million for its Kennedy Avenue Railroad Overpass Project. The current at-grade crossing sees 32 trains daily.

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