A few neighborhoods around the Ball State University's campus will have their streets repaved and their potholes filled this summer. However, the city of Muncie lacks sufficient funding from the state to complete such projects, officials said.
In 2006. Mayor Dan Canan turned his focus from repaving main roads to neighborhood roads, including the section of Oakwood Avenue between McGalliard Road and Sheffield Drive; Tillotson Avenue between Purdue Avenue and Riggin Road; University Avenue between Tillotson Avenue and Riley Road; and Beechwood Avenue between Light and Dicks streets. These are only four of 26 neighborhood streets deemed most in need of repair by city officials, said Michael Denton, Delaware County highway engineer and consulting engineer for the city of Muncie.
E&B Paving will complete the project by Aug. 15.
"Most of the major roads have been addressed over the past several years," Canan said, "and with the limited money we have, we're trying to spread it around to neighborhoods instead of spending it on specific streets."
Even though the city is planning to repave streets and has limited funding, the Republican-controlled Delaware County Council rejected a county wheel tax last June that could have raised about $2.2 million each year from vehicle registrations for Delaware County and Muncie streets, with $25 being the maximum amount charged per vehicle, Denton said.
Denton said he believed the decision was a "totally political decision rather than based on sound judgment."
"There were many legitimate reasons and support for the wheel tax to be put into place, mainly because the revenue dedicated to street and road maintenance has been declining over the years," Denton said. "This was one way to put the revenue into good use to prevent some of the damage done to vehicles."
However, this year, the Indiana Department of Transportation introduced Major Moves, a 10-year transportation plan that would provide about $200 million for construction on state routes in several counties, including Delaware, Blackford, Jay, Henry and Randolph counties. The counties with the most streets, higher populations and greater numbers of registered vehicles would receive the most money, Denton said.
Delaware County received $1.4 million for this year and next year for local roads, while Muncie received $400,000, Denton said.
"I'm never going to sneeze at additional revenue, but it is not an answer to fund the problems that Delaware County and Muncie have in road maintenance," Denton said.
Canan said the city, which spends about $660,000 a year on street repaving, probably wouldn't receive the Major Moves plan dollars until October or November. The gasoline tax is the city's primary source of funding for local streets, but revenue has declined as vehicles become more fuel efficient and less gasoline is purchased, Denton said.
Denton said his goal was to develop a formal rating system that produced a list of roads that were most logical to pave, especially with the price of asphalt increasing 25 percent and state revenue decreasing 12 percent.
"I believe that the county highway and street department of the city have done an admirable job with what they are given money-wise," Denton said.
CAMPUS WORK BRIEF
Ball State received four bids Thursday to correct the crossover point between the L.A. Pittenger Student Center and the administration building, where the traffic light is not working, Jim Lowe, director of engineering and operations, said.
Lowe said the university would make a recommendation for the award this week. The project will begin May 8 and will be completed May 27, prior to Summer 2006 Orientation.
The university decided to install a crossover point in the area because it had a high volume of pedestrians, and a traffic light should not be in the area in the first place, Lowe said.
"What we're doing is much better because we're not stopping traffic," Lowe said.
Ball State will also begin its second phase of the McKinley Project on May 8, after E&B Paving in March submitted the low bid for the project, at $3.4 million. The project will include the reconstruction of McKinley Avenue from Neely and Petty avenues to Bethel Avenue, as well as the construction of a second duck pond.
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