'We're repaving Main Street': Governor passes out millions for road work

Apr. 10—Gov. Eric Holcomb and state Transportation Commissioner Michael Smith dispensed checks to cities, towns and counties across west-central Indiana on Wednesday morning in the Clay County Courthouse in Brazil.

The state's Next Level Roads program is responsible for the Community Crossings matching grant program, which will issue $207 million throughout the state.

Smith touted the fact that the state's largess had reached $200 million, when in the past the awards amounted to $110 to $120 million.

"We're repaving Main Street — we're repaving your street," he said.

Before handing out the awards, Holcomb said, "Now I get to play Ed McMahon," referring to the TV personality who handed out oversized checks in a series of commercials for American Family Publishers.

In the past, the most a community could receive was $1 million, but that was boosted this year to $1.5 million. Vigo County was one of the counties receiving the maximum award in this cycle.

Vigo County Commissioner Chris Switzer and County Engineer Larry Robbins accepted a check for $1.5 million.

"Being one of the first counties to get the full $1.5 million is pretty awesome," Switzer said. "It's a testament to our engineering office and our highway crew and the great work that they all do to come together and apply for these grants."

Robbins applies for the Community Crossings grant every year.

"We're absolutely going to put this to good work," he said. "We've got a couple of projects planned for this and we hope to continue this process in the future as well."

The money has already been earmarked for road improvements and pavement preservation projects on Rio Grande Avenue in the north part of the county and Gannon Drive in Sugar Creek Township.

"It will impact the county as a whole," Robbins said. "It won't be just in one area — we'll apply it across the county to the roads who need it the most first. It's a great program and something [of which] we're very thankful to the state."

Brazil received $539,000, while Clay County also secured $1.5 million.

Clay County Commissioner Paul Sinders said, "In the past, we could only dream about these roads."

District 38 state Sen. Greg Goode noted that communities in his district received $5.6 million from Community Crossings.

"Maintaining roads and bridges is not only good for motorists, but also brings important economic development to our cities and towns," Goode said. "This funding will boost local infrastructure and improve the quality of life for residents of the Wabash Valley. I am pleased to see local officials take advantage of the Community Crossings Matching Grant Program."

Other counties receiving the full $1.5 million were Fountain, Knox, Putnam, Sullivan and Vermillion. Holcomb noted that his parents were originally from Knox County, drolly adding, "That has nothing to do with this."

Other recipients include:

* Bainbridge, $396,000

* Farmersburg, $402,000

* Linton, $300,000

* Hymera, $155,138

* Merom, $21,000

* Parke County, $1.13 million

* Rockville, $132,000

A total of 252 communities across the state will receive more than $207 million through the grant program at dates throughout the year. Funds can be used for road and bridge preservation, road reconstruction, intersection improvements and other items.

The 2024 second call for Community Crossings projects opens at 8 a.m. July 1 and closes at 5 p.m. July 31.

A full list of 2024 recipients to date and more information can be found at https://bit.ly/3UdmX5h

David Kronke can be reached at 812-231-4232 or at david.kronke@tribstar.com.