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La Porte engineer: rising material costs and limited local revenue constrain road and sidewalk work; resident urges bump-out on Indiana Ave
Summary
City Engineer Nick Minnick told the La Porte City Common Council that construction costs have risen sharply while local road funding has stayed roughly the same, limiting how many streets the city can repair. Resident Rick Ogle pressed for a pedestrian bump-out on Indiana Avenue near multiple homes with children.
La Porte City Engineer Nick Minnick told the Common Council on April 21 that sharply higher materials and labor costs have left the city able to do far fewer road and sidewalk projects than a decade ago.
Minnick outlined recent and planned work and the city’s funding mix, saying the city’s 2024 Community Crossings project is “a $2,800,000 contract” currently underway and that the city also awarded a $150,000 project on Stevens Road tied to a school transportation project. He said the city’s pavement-condition score has hovered around 5.7 (on a 10-point scale) after years of incremental improvement and a recent pause while larger sewer and water projects used paving dollars.
The engineer stressed rising prices: asphalt costs are up about 81% since 2014 (from about $64/ton to about $116/ton in Minnick’s numbers) and concrete work…
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