CROTHERSVILLE — Crothersville officials have identified the next street in town that needs the most attention.
During a recent Crothersville Town Council meeting, FPBH Inc. CEO Dan Wright received unanimous approval to apply for Community Crossings Matching Grant Program funding in hopes of paving a major part of Preston Street.
That would go from 385 feet south of Main Street to Coleman Street. The cost estimate is $296,106, so the town’s match for that would be $74,026.40.
The Indiana Department of Transportation is accepting applications for the spring 2024 call for CCMG projects through Jan. 31, and grants are available based on population.
Cities and towns with a population of fewer than 10,000 will receive funds using a 75/25 match, those with a population greater than 10,000 will receive funds using a 50/50 match, counties with a population of fewer than 50,000 will receive funds using a 75/25 match and counties with a population greater than 50,000 will receive funds using a 50/50 match.
Grant recipients will be notified in the spring.
This project would not include Preston Street from the bridge to Moore Street. Wright said the town could apply for funding for that project at another time.
“It’s going to be fairly expensive to get the bridge done mainly because of all of the other things involved there. There are so many utilities there, a driveway, so there are a lot of things that we have to do,” he said. “Instead of doing it all the way to Moore and not really having enough money, it was determined the best way to do it is basically do just a street project, then do a bridge down to Moore project separate.”
Councilman Jamy Greathouse said the town would be lucky to get that project done for the same cost.
“It’s not going to be cheap,” Wright said.
Since 2016, the state has awarded nearly $1.5 billion in matching funds to support local road and bridge projects across Indiana. Long-term funding for Community Crossings is part of House Enrolled Act 1002, passed by the Indiana legislature and signed into law by Gov. Eric Holcomb in April 2017.