(The following story by Josh Duke appeared on the Indianapolis Star website on January 7, 2010.)
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Hendricks County residents soon will see the most expensive portion of the Ronald Reagan Parkway to date taking shape in Avon.
The parkway’s bridge over the CSX rail yard came in well under its original estimates of $13 million when it was awarded to Gradex Inc. for $11.3 million last month.
The Metropolitan Planning Organization will pay for 80 percent of the project through its surface transportation program. Avon and the county will cover the local 20 percent match.
“Getting this bid award was a big hurdle to overcome and was so important for this road,” said County Engineer John Ayers. “We are anxious to get it under way.”
The project will extend the four-lane parkway from U.S. 36 south to County Road 100 South, including building a bridge over the eastern end of the rail yard.
The new road will meet U.S. 36 at the current traffic signal. Access to shopping areas on the south side of U.S. 36 also will be reconfigured as part of the project.
Work will begin this spring and could take more than two years to finish. The contract calls for a completion date of Sept. 30, 2012, said Debbie Calder, spokeswoman for the Indiana Department of Transportation, which is involved because of the use of federal money.
Some Brownsburg leaders were concerned when they learned that Gradex received the winning bid.
Community leaders weren’t happy with the time it took Gradex to complete the Ind. 267 project just north of the I-74 interchange. The company even was fined by INDOT after completing the work this fall — weeks after the scheduled deadline.
However, county and Avon officials felt the Brownsburg project was more of an aberration for Gradex than the norm. The company has completed numerous other road projects in the area on time, including work on the Accelerate 465 project and access to the new Indianapolis International Airport midfield terminal.
“The way the contract was written affected the duration of that project up in Brownsburg,” Ayers said. “I have no concerns about that.”
Avon officials, however, were disappointed that a trail wasn’t part of the bridge design, said Town Manager Tom Klein.
County Commissioner Eric Wathen said that while walking paths aren’t a major component, the bridge will be wide enough to accommodate pedestrians wanting to get across the bridge.
With the bridge project now slated for construction, Wathen said the county can turn its attention to designing and acquiring land to build the remaining unfinished link of the Ronald Reagan Parkway south of U.S. 36 between county roads 100 South and 200 South.
Wathen estimated it would cost $5 million to build all four lanes from 100 South to 200 South. Federal stimulus money totaling $533,520 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will help pay for initial planning of that stretch. Wathen expects it to be completed within the next two years.
Completion of the overpass and that section of new road to 200 South would give Avon a completed direct route to Indianapolis International Airport and I-70. It also would leave just a two-mile section from County Road 300 North to U.S. 136 near Brownsburg as the remaining unfinished piece between I-70 and I-74.
That last section will be a costly piece, however, with estimates hovering around $20 million to build the road, including a bridge over U.S. 136 and a railroad line.
The timetable on that section will depend on the economy and surrounding development, Wathen said.