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Updates on the Anchorage Road and the Parker Street/Husky Trail/CR 75N road projects were provided Friday to the Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety.
Councilwoman Diane Quance, who lives near Anchorage Road, asked Public Works Director Dustin Dillon if “we are still on target to sign off on the Anchorage Road project?”
Dillon said he and Community and Economic Development Director Jeremy Skinner “just met with them yesterday. They’re on pace to have it open, hopefully, by Halloween, on the 200 North portion of it. The area from State Road 15 to U.S. 30 is fully open now.”
In a couple weeks, he said they’ll do a final work through or pre-final work through to do the inspection.
“They were paving the intermediate asphalt today on 200 North, (they’ll) put surface on next week. There’s some final grading and seeding and things to take place, but we should see it open within the next two weeks here, is the goal,” Dillon said.
Mayor Jeff Grose asked Skinner to explain how long the Anchorage Road project has been going on and the cost.
Skinner said the city applied to the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) for an 80/20 grant in 2018 for the project, and it was awarded in 2019.
The utility relocation, because there’s a lot of utilities along Anchorage Road, took 18 months to complete, he said. “So, typically, an INDOT project is an 80/20 project, so somewhere between four and five years. This one went a little bit longer, mostly because of that utility relocation. We had lots of power poles, lots of utilities, so it was about 18 months of relocating those utilities.”
The project cost is at least $4.1 million. Skinner said it originally was an 80/20 grant, but the city received $2.3 million in INDOT funding and the city put about $1.8 million toward the project.
Grose said he appreciated Skinner’s efforts on the project for years, and “people like Diane are going to benefit from it.”
Skinner said those who have driven out there will notice that Anchorage Road has gone to three lanes, whereas before it was a very tight two-lane road. The center lane is a turn lane. There’s also sidewalks and a person can walk from Sunset Drive to Meijer.
“So, a lot of good improvements. Storm water control, unlike in the past. Mostly, it was kind of a drainage ditch type of control, so now there’s a storm water swirl basin that helps keep the water clean. So, yeah, a lot of improvements in general in that area,” Skinner said.
Grose thanked the residents that lived over there in that area for dealing with the project, as well as the countless number of people who had to navigate through that.
“It’s real exciting what we’re providing to the community,” he said.
Quance agreed it was exciting, and she appreciated being in on it from the very beginning. The storm drains are working as they should, she said.
Dillon then updated the board on the Community Crossings Matching Grant (CCMG) project, out at Parker Street, Husky Trail and CR 75N.
“They are out paving the surface layer on Patterson Road, 75 North today, and Parker Street section between 30 and Husky Trail has been completed. The next phase of the project, starting next week, they’re going to go from the south entrance of Menard’s to the north entrance. That will be right in the heart of that four-way. It will be a little hectic for a couple days. They’ll have flagging, they’ll get people through there as quick as they possible can. Then they’ll have a final base from that north entrance up to the roundabout approach, as well,” he said.
They’re hoping to get to substantial completion by Friday, Oct. 23.
“So we’ve got about another week of it, but, again, that was originally almost a $2 million project that came in just under $900,000, with that 50% matching grant, so we have $431,000 invested. So, huge, huge project, should make those roadways last a long time,” Dillon stated.
Grose said “thousands and thousands” of people use that infrastructure and there had been no major address of those roads for more than two decades.
Dillon said there was a microsurface to them about six years ago, and that area sees about 15,000 vehicles a day every day.
“It is a very, very highly traveled area. That roadway is 22 years old now, so now doing a 4-inch structural mill, new intermediate and new surface layers of pavement. Hoping with the help of our Pavement Preservation Plan, we’ll get that roadway to last 35 to 40 years before we have to go to a full reconstruction phase,” he stated.
Earlier in Friday’s meeting, Dillon, on behalf of Wastewater Utility Manager Brian Davison, presented a contract with VS Engineering for $41,200 for Detroit Street sewer replacement.
“We’re getting ready to put out for bid our Detroit Street safety project, and in our investigation we found out that there is a sewer line that is in dire need of replacement in that same area,” Dillon said.
VS Engineering is the engineering firm that did the safety project, so the contract will include the sewer line replacement, the surveying and other details. “So we’ll tie that together with that same project and put out for bid next month,” he said.
The sanitary line has a 90-degree turn and is failing in places and it’s time to replace it, Dillon stated, “and what better time to incorporate it with that road project and do it all at the same time.”
He said that way they’ll try to just close the road one time to get all the work done.
The board approved the contract.
The Detroit Traffic Safety Project involves the intersection with Pope and Prairie streets and right-turn only turn lanes.
In another matter, two bids were received Friday for microsurfacing and crack sealing for the Warsaw Street Department.
Pavement Maintenance Systems LLC bid $6.53 per square yard for microsurfacing and $1.45 per pound for cracks asphalt pavement filling; while Pavement Solutions Inc. bid $5.50 per square yard for microsurfacing and $1.45 per pound for cracks filling.
After reviewing the bids during the meeting, Street Superintendent Joe Vetor recommended the board approved the bid from Pavement Solutions Inc., which they did.
Vetor also requested permission to purchase a 2026 GEHL ALT750 loader from Plevna Implement Co., Nappanee, for $65,200, including a trade-in of a 2021 Bobcat S76 Skid Steer Loader. The funds will come out of the 2026 main Street Department budget for equipment. The board approved the request.
Warsaw Human Resource Director Denny Harlan presented, and the board approved, a WorkOne host site agreement. He said the city did a couple similar agreements last year.
“We’re working with WorkOne to be a host site for a high school student to come and spend some hours working alongside us to get some experience so when they hit the workforce they’ve got a little experience under their belt,” he said.
The agreement presented Friday is for student Tyler Kern to work at the Street Department at $15 per hour. Harlan said Kern’s goal is to become a mechanic after high school so Kern will be working with Damian Pass and his crew back in the mechanic shop.
The work experience start date is Oct. 20, and is for a maximum of 240 hours.
