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Warricknews - News
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New highway faces striping delays
Posted: Wednesday, Apr 02, 2008 - 09:50:12 am EDT
By Nathan Blackford - Warrick Publishing Online
An unusually wet spring has delayed the final work on State Road 62 just west of Chandler, according to the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT).
The paving for the roadway is complete, and has been that way for weeks. That’s left drivers wondering why the segment of four-lane road is still reduced to a two-lane bottleneck.
There are a few minor items to be finished, including a guardrail and shoulder work. But the major problem, said INDOT spokesperson Cher Goodwin, are the raised pavement markings. And that striping can’t be completed until the weather cooperates.
“That has to be done in dry, warm conditions,” said Goodwin. “And so even though the temperature has come up recently, we’ve had so much rain we’ve not been able to get out there and put the thermoplastic paint lines down.”
Forecasters are calling for more rain this week, from Wednesday night through Friday, including possible heavy rain on Thursday. That follows an unusually wet March, with flooding across the tri-state area. Several local counties — including Warrick — were under a flood warning again on April 1.
The SR 62 widening project is ongoing, with a $5 million phase currently under construction in Boonville, and the final segment — at a cost of over $35 million — due to break ground as soon as late 2009. The construction west of Chandler was originally expected to be completed in late 2007, but drivers will have to wait for mother nature to cooperate for the roadway to finally open.
“It can be finished as soon as we can get a couple of dry days here,” said Goodwin. “That is the hold up. And right now, we are getting rain or forecast to get rain pretty much every day. So it might be a little while.”
INDOT will meet with contractors in a pre-construction conference on April 3 regarding the State Road 66 widening project near Newburgh. The $17 million widening project will increase the travel lanes from two to four from just east of State Road 261 to Old State Road 662, now called French Island Trail.
Construction on this phase of the SR 66 project will take more than two years to complete, and could begin sometime in April. Goodwin said INDOT expects to have a better idea of exactly when construction will begin following the pre-construction meeting.
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