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Daviess County highway department wins Community Crossings grant; officials outline road projects and funding questions
Summary
Highway staff said the county was awarded a Community Crossings Matching Grant and described a slate of roads included in the award. Officials discussed federal funding competition, potential local preliminary engineering commitments and canceled a north causeway application to show good faith to NDOT.
Daviess County’s highway department reported March 11 that it was awarded a Community Crossings Matching Grant (CCMG) and outlined the roads the award would fund, while cautioning that federal funding is increasingly competitive and that some local commitments may be required.
Highway presenter Chris told commissioners the county was awarded “the 2025-1 community crossings matching grant” and that the program can award amounts based on an engineer’s estimate. Chris said the program initially lists an award “up to $1,500,000,” but that when bids come in the award can differ; he later said the CCMG tied to the county’s applications is “just a little over $1,100,000” if the county fulfills its obligations.
Why it matters: the CCMG funds pavement and infrastructure projects across multiple county roads; timely contracting and compliance with federal requirements can affect whether the county receives the full award.
Chris listed the segments included in the grant: County Road 100 West from 600 North to County Road 358; Maysville Road from U.S. 50 to National Highway; 150 North from State Road 57 to Sugar Land Road; Sugar Land Road from 150 North to Washington’s corporation line; 75 East from 150 North to 250 North; 200 North from 75 East to 200 East; 100 South from Troy Road to State Road 257; and Eleventh Street from 100 South to Washington’s corporation line. He said some segments tie into last year’s award and that contractors might combine work to complete multiple legs in the same year.
Chris provided grant-history figures for context: since 2016 the county has been awarded $9,232,000 in Community Crossings grants, and since 2014 the county’s total federal and other grant funding through the highway department is “just a little over $57,000,000,” as he told the board. The transcript records these figures as presented; the county did not provide line-item backup during the meeting.
Chris also read from an NDOT letter (attributed to Kathy Eaton McCallum) that described heavy statewide demand: more than $430 million in total project cost estimates were applied for, with about $330 million requested from NDOT. The letter said limited federal funding and rising PE costs have increased pressure on the program and asked whether local sponsors can fund preliminary engineering or otherwise vary match percentages to help award more projects.
To demonstrate good faith and preserve competition for other LPAs, Chris said the county kept the south causeway application and removed the north causeway from the current round; he noted that taking on full preliminary engineering for a bridge project would add roughly $400,000 to the county’s commitment and that staff intentionally avoided increasing the county’s PE commitment at this time.
Ending: Commissioners heard the update and were told bids will be advertised for the project; staff said they will seek to have contracts in place so paving and related work can proceed within NDOT’s scheduling constraints.
