$1.5 million for roads approved
News Coverage:
June 4, 2016
$1.5 million for roads approved
Rosa Salter Rodriguez | The Journal Gazette
If it’s summertime in Fort Wayne, it’s time for road projects, as Allen County Commissioners learned Friday.
The commissioners approved more than $1.5 million in proposed maintenance and improvements presented by the county’s highway department.
Bill Hartman, highway department director, said work on the projects, several of which are in the far northeastern part of the county, would continue through the summer.
One, a resurfacing of Schwartz Road from the Leo-Cedarville town line to Flutter Road, will also redo Amish buggy lanes that have become worn since they were installed about 15 years ago, he said.
The lanes are eight to 10 feet wide on both sides of the road, he said, and the wear makes it more likely for buggies to gravitate to the main traffic lanes. The $553,541 project was awarded to Brooks Construction Co., Fort Wayne, the low bidder, Hartman said.
Other upcoming projects include resurfacing from Schwartz Road to Bull Rapids Road, Page Road from Notestine Road to Witmer Road, and Witmer Road from Page Road to the Grabill town line ($318,813 to API Construction Corp, Fort Wayne) and the resurfacing of Cuba Road from Indiana 37 to Trammel Road and Grabill Road from Cuba Road to 675 East ($177,360 to Brooks).
A second phase of concrete street repairs in the Pleasant Run subdivision near Wayne High School also was approved for $455,574 to low bidder, Primco Inc., Fort Wayne.
A bridge improvement project for Antwerp Road over the Hamm interceptor was approved for $111,200 to A&Z Engineering, Fort Wayne.
In other business, commissioners approved two tax abatements for Allen County Redevelopment Commission projects along Bluffton Road just north of West Pleasant Center Road.
Scott Harrold, senior economic development specialist for the county’s planning department, said a change in state law means such proposals must now go before the commissioners.
The abatements are for XPO Logistics, 13201 Bluffton Road, and Blue Kingfisher, which is developing a milk processing plant to serve Wal-Mart at West Pleasant Center and Bluffton Road.
XPO will spend $26 million on the regional distribution center, which will serve health care clients, and promised to create 75 jobs by 2018. The company sought a $2 million abatement over 10 years from the county and also received $750,000 in conditional tax credits based on its hiring from the Indiana Economic Development Corp.
Blue Kingfisher of Bentonville, Arkansas, is developing the $165 million milk plant, which would create 150 production and supervisory jobs, plus 100 trucking jobs possibly from another company.
The abatements would save the company about $10.7 million over a 10-year period.
