Adams County approves INDOT contract for Bridal 96 rehab, moves to pursue HSIP guardrail grants

County engineering briefed commissioners on a slate of transportation items and the board approved an INDOT agreement that allows the county to execute a Bridal 96 federal-aid rehabilitation contract and proceed with grant pursuits.

The county engineer said he had received a draft contract from ERI for the Bridal 96 Rehabilitation (on 300 East, south of 124) and that changes in escalation amounts and a math error had been corrected during review. He reported the contract amount as a not-to-exceed $168,606 and recommended execution of the agreement; commissioners voted to approve the INDOT agreement.

Separately, the engineer outlined a larger safety program: 38 bridges across the county were identified as having inadequate or improper guardrail and his office proposed a four-phase approach, beginning with a clustered set of roughly 10 bridges in Preble Township. He said a detailed cost estimate is required for the HSIP grant application and that a consultant (Butler, Fairman, Seifer) had offered to produce the estimate; he negotiated the fee down to roughly $5,000. Commissioners authorized proceeding with the consultant estimate and pursuing HSIP and other safety grant funding cycles.

The engineer cautioned that right-of-way acquisition, appraisals and other variables could add substantially to construction costs and said the guardrail program likely fits HSIP’s emphasis on safety, which often requires a local match. Commissioners discussed the potential for concentrated road closures during phased work and the need to manage communications with affected landowners.

The board also received an update on Bridge 93: field potholing located a fiber line that 811 had not identified and the crew found the 20-inch water main; utility work and surveys were underway to support further construction planning.