By HOLLY GASKILL
County Engineer Nate Rumschlag announced Monday that Wells County has been awarded $647,417.25 from the Community Crossing Matching Grant.
Of the awarded amount, $405,992 will replace Bridge 170 on County Road 900S west of the Adams County line, and $241,425 will rehabilitate Bridge 85 on the Hoosier Highway north of County Road 500S.
Rumschlag noted that this was exactly what he had applied for.
The county will still be eligible for at least $352,582.75 in CCMG grant funds this year. The next round of applications will open on July 5. Rumschlag stated he plans to submit the next mile of County Road 450E between 1000N and 1100N for rehabilitation.
Later, Highway Supervisor Shawn Bonar notified the commissioners that one of the recent windstorms had caused damage to the four pillars supporting the new highway garage. Bonar said the engineers were currently discussing how to repair the issue.
Other updates from the highway department were:
• Jutte Excavating is expected to begin work on Bridge 19, located on 800E near 900S, on April 21. Rumschlag said the project was planned to be finished in late March to avoid impacting farm traffic and apologized for the disruption. Construction is expected to take 30-60 days.
• Bonar has completed training with LTAP Purdue to allow CDL training to take place in-house — he has already begun training a formerly part-time employee who did not have his certification. Bonar noted the value of training employees with the equipment they’ll use and in the environment they’ll use them in.
• Road conversion work will continue on county roads 500W, 200W and 700N, and spring stone spreading is expected to finish by the end of the week.
• The department’s mechanic who had been injured in an accident last year was able to return to work recently.
holly@news-banner.com
