Jackson County will receive nearly $3 million in funds through the Community Crossings Matching Grant Program.

These funds will cover areas of Jackson County, Seymour and Brownstown.

Community Crossings is a component of Gov. Eric Holcomb’s Next Level Roads program. For Indiana cities, towns and counties to qualify for funding, local governments must provide local matching funds of 50% for larger communities or 25% for smaller communities and have an asset management plan for maintaining existing roads and bridges.

On Wednesday, Holcomb and the Indiana Department of Transportation announced 224 Indiana cities, towns and counties will receive a combined $133.4 million in state matching funds for local road projects.

“The continued success of the Community Crossings program becomes more evident each year,” Holcomb said. “Improving transportation infrastructure at the most local level makes communities that much more attractive for business and Hoosier families alike to connect and grow.”

According to the award list, Jackson County will receive $991,380, and Brownstown and Seymour each will receive $1 million.

The city of Seymour will match its $1 million grant from the Seymour Redevelopment Commission.

Communities submitted applications for funding during a call for projects in January. Applications were evaluated based on need and current conditions as well as impacts to safety and economic development.

Funding for Community Crossings comes from the state’s local road and bridge matching grant fund. The initiative has provided more than $1.27 billion in state matching funds for local construction projects since 2016.

“Safe, modern infrastructure at the local level makes Indiana’s transportation network stronger,” INDOT Commissioner Mike Smith said. “Partnering with locals on these projects is something INDOT looks forward to each year. The hard work and dedication of local entities to secure these funds and make improvements in their communities does not go unnoticed.”

State lawmakers identified long-term funding for Community Crossings as part of House Enrolled Act 1002, passed by the legislature and signed into law by Holcomb in April 2017.

The total mileage for the 2023 projects is 6,032 feet or 1.14 miles in Seymour. This is less mileage due to increase in materials and labor costs, city Engineer Bernie Hauersperger said. The cost doubled from 2021 to 2022 and nearly doubled again from 2022 to 2023.

More complicated construction on wider roads and heavy traffic areas, such as Burkart Boulevard, are currently under construction as well as Community Crossroads projects from 2021, Park Street and other 2022 Community Crossroads projects.

The city will be looking into bids for this work in the next few months, and if they are unable to complete the work this year, it will carry over into 2024, Public Information Specialist January Rutherford said.

She said the city chooses which roads are repaved based on their Pavement Surface Evaluation Rating.

The following are roads that will undergo improvements from funds that were granted to Jackson County, Brownstown and Seymour:

Jackson County

-100 North from the city limits to State Road 135

-400 East from State Road 39 to 400 South

-1050 North from 25 East to a dead end

-1110 East from 800 North to U.S. 31

-150 South from U.S. 31 to 125 South

-300 North from State Road 11 to 850 East

-1300 East from State Road 250 to 400 South

-Greendale Drive from U.S. 31 to a dead end

-950 West from 150 South to 940 West

-975 West from State Road 58 to 375 North

-700 North from 675 West to 750 North

Brownstown

-South Sugar Street south from Commerce Street to Hoosier Christian Village

-South Poplar Street, south of Old Vallonia Road

-Old Vallonia Road, west of South Main Street to end of town limits

-Bloomington Road from Asher Street to West Commerce Street

-Indiana Avenue

Seymour

-Third Street from the alley west of Kessler Boulevard to Walnut Street

-Fourth Avenue in Freeman Field from A Avenue to C Avenue

-East Fourth Street from Burkart Boulevard to 1,100 feet east in the Eastside Industrial Park

-Burkart Boulevard from Tipton Street (U.S.50) to Fourth Street

-Community Drive from Tipton Street (U.S. 50) to the entrance of BP2 Construction

-Broadway Street from Fifth Street to Eighth Street

Hauersperger said with the repavement of many local roads, the city acknowledges the expressed need for reconstruction of O’Brien Street and Second Street

“We want to be able to do it right,” he said.

The reconstruction of O’Brien Street is scheduled to begin in 2025, and Second Street is scheduled to begin in 2024. Both are federally funded projects.

The total cost for O’Brien Street is $16 million, and the total cost for Second Street is $10.66 million.

“Thank you to the state of Indiana for helping us continue to work on city streets via CCMG 2023-1. If you add this to our federal aid projects, $10.2 million for O’Brien Street and $8.8 million for Second Street, we have quite a bit of road work over the next several years,” Mayor Matt Nicholson said.