Public hears O’Brien Street project plans

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Federal and local funds will be used for a project to fully reconstruct a high-traffic portion of O’Brien Street in Seymour starting in 2025.

Phase 2 will start at Village Circle Avenue just north of the railroad tracks and go up to just south of Tipton Street, or U.S. 50. Phase 3 will pick up just north of Tipton Street and go up to Fourth Street.

A public information meeting was conducted Wednesday night in the council chambers at Seymour City Hall, led by Brian Craig, Steven Walls and Eric Fair with GAI Consultants Inc., city Engineer Bernie Hauersperger and Seymour Department Public Works Director Chad Dixon.

Phase 1 is south of this project and is on a different Indiana Department of Transportation schedule, so it will be part of a different public meeting, Craig said.

The project is expected to have final environmental approval by the end of this month, land acquisition will be from August of this year to July 2024, Stage 3 plans will be done by April 2024, design will be complete by August 2024, INDOT will do bid openings on Dec. 11, 2024, and construction would start in April 2025.

The $2.87 million project is expected to be complete by June 2026.

“INDOT usually determines the timeline of construction that they give to the contractor, so this is our best guess at this point that construction could go into the next season, so the summer of the following year (2026) is when we expect completion,” Craig told the crowd of about 20 people.

It will be up to the contractor to determine to start with the north or south portion first, he said.

“We can set certain parameters for them as far as if there are things that we want to make sure that we control as far as if somebody only has access to their house and not a side street or an alley and we want to construct by sections,” he said. “We can tell the contractor that they can only do so much at a time.”

For a lot of projects, Craig said he doesn’t put too many restrictions on the contractor because they come up with the best-laid plan.

“We get better bids when they have free rein to do the project the way they want to, but we can step in and write special provisions to direct them to do certain things if we need them to do that,” he said.

Once work begins, Craig said through traffic will be detoured to Burkart Boulevard and won’t be allowed on O’Brien Street.

“As far as just going through, that traffic will be diverted,” he said. “However, we will do our best to maintain access to those that have to use O’Brien as access to their home.”

That was one concern expressed by Janet Field, who lives in the 600 block of South O’Brien Street.

With a field, an apartment complex and a convenience store behind her home, the only way out of her driveway is backing onto O’Brien Street.

“You’ll always have a way to get out of your home one direction or the other,” Hauersperger said. “It may be a little inconvenient, but you’re not going to be blocked off unless they are putting your driveway (approach) in.”

Looking at the design plans, Field said another concern is losing part of her front yard due to a sidewalk being put in as part of the project. That will have to be built around a large utility pole in her yard.

“I couldn’t see giving up more of my land,” she said. “If it was going to help my property, the value of my property, I’d be (OK with it), but it’s going to depreciate my property because there’s no front yard.”

Field said her home already is close to O’Brien Street.

“I sit on my front porch and I can shake hands with people as they go by. Now, are they going to be on my porch?” she said. “You are talking about taking away my yard and (not having much room) from my front porch to the sidewalk and have a little yard that’s in front of your house. That’s too much. We gave up enough when we bought it in ‘64.”

Craig said they want to hear those concerns now as the project is being designed so changes could possibly be made. Fair, the lead designer for the project, took down concerns expressed during and after the meeting, and residents’ contact information was obtained so project leaders could discuss matters with them.

The purpose of this project is to improve pedestrian mobility to and from residential, commercial and school facilities. It also aims to improve the roadway condition and drainage and to lengthen its service life.

The 1.11-mile stretch of O’Brien Street will be fully reconstructed with full-depth asphalt. The original roadway was constructed in the 1930s and has been overlaid four times throughout its life cycle.

During the presentation, an image of what a typical section of the road will look like was shown, including nearly 8 inches of asphalt on 3 inches of compacted aggregate on subgrade treatment.

“We’ll be reconstructing the existing road, tearing out the old road, putting in new asphalt with a subgrade treatment underneath,” Craig said. “Predominantly, this is a typical section through the corridor. We don’t have the pavement design yet because we have to get geotechnical work done to design that, so this is subject to change.”

There also will be new curbs and gutters on each side of the street.

“If you know the road right now, it’s just flat and blends into the ground, so there are no curbs there for drainage,” Craig said. “A lot of it is the curbs are there, but the roadway has been resurfaced to the point where there’s very little curb height for most of this.”

Driveway and alley approaches will be replaced within the limits of the right of way, and there will be new drainage and inlets to storm sewers. Craig said the driveway approaches will have a half-inch lip so there is a defined gutter for drainage, and Hauersperger said that will be smooth.

The plan also is to put in a sidewalk on each side of the road, and there will be Americans with Disabilities Act ramps at intersecting streets. One side will have a grass buffer between the sidewalk and the street, and the other one is adjacent to the curb and gutter.

“There are areas where we get tight on the side and bring the sidewalk in,” Craig said. “There will be some utility relocations most likely wherever there are conflicts with our design. We’re not quite to that point yet. The utilities are looking at our plans right now and assessing where they might have conflicts and they’ll have to relocate, so there will be a little bit of that work.”

Preliminary design plans and an environmental study are available for review at Seymour City Hall, 301-309 N. Chestnut St., or online at seymourin.org.

People may express their concerns about the project by submitting comments to the attention of Brook Earl, GAI Consultants, 201 N. Illinois St., Suite 1700, Indianapolis, IN 46204 or by calling 317-436-4843 or emailing [email protected].

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