Federal stimulus cash for highways now fully allocated, INDOT says

Pavement replacement, bridge maintenance and repairs to traffic signals exemplify projects jumpstarted by Northwest Indiana's portion of the state's federal stimulus funding.

The Indiana Department of Transportation announced this week all $658 million of Indiana's highway and bridge allocation under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has been awarded or fully advertised.

The highway portion of the federal stimulus, regarded as a benchmark of President Barack Obama's domestic policy, placed an emphasis on "shovel ready" projects. To use the federal stimulus, plans and approvals for the projects were expected to be complete.

"These were shovel ready projects that could be produced pretty quickly and involve the existing footprint of a road," INDOT spokesman Will Wingfield said.

INDOT routed about $40 million to Lake County for 86 projects and about $13 million to Porter County for 43 projects. In all, the federal stimulus has funded 1,082 transportation projects in the state.

The largest stimulus project in which the Lake County Highway Department will be involved is resurfacing a three-mile stretch on Ridge Road from Colfax Street to Grant Street, highway engineer Duane Alverson said. He expects the project to begin by late spring.

"The way guidelines came down for stimulus money everybody was scrambling," Alverson said. "The only thing local units, like counties, cities and towns, could really qualify for was preventative maintenance."

A total reconstruction of a road would need to be reviewed by INDOT and the federal government, which would have slowed the process down by up to 18 months. Roadways also needed to be in moderate condition, ones with potholes and other issues requiring more than preventative maintenance weren't applicable under the stimulus.

Most of the roads cleared for funding in Northwest Indiana need resurfacing and haven't been worked on in five to 10 years, Alverson said. Another project the highway department will be involved in is resurfacing Cedar Lake Road from 121st to 133rd streets.

"Are we addressing our worst roads with stimulus funds? No, we're not," Alverson said. "In order to get federal money for that, we would need to do a full blown design and review process."