By Tony Sandleman—
MUNCIE, Ind. – The City of Muncie is continuing to work on its streets and roadways. The city street department continues to work on its pavement plan for 2022. The plan covers 63 different projects and represents a dramatic increase in the number of projects to be undertaken.
In 2020, Muncie was dealing with a negative $1.9 million balance in the local road and streets account. That balance was addressed in 2020 and 9 streets were still paved. With financial challenges addressed, the street department is now going full steam ahead on pavings.
The second quarter of 2022 will consist primarily of completion of 26 projects. The City of Muncie and the State of Indiana are working together to fund those 26 projects that will cost a total of $1,546,316.32. Sample projects include New York Avenue, Greenwood Avenue and Elgin Street. Those projects are expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2022.
Next, the street department will move to a project on Mulberry Street, working on sections between Main Street and 21st Street. That project is expected to be finished by the end of the second quarter of 2022 and represents a total investment of $703,799.
From there, the street department will move on to 10 additional projects which include Beechwood Avenue, Edgewood Drive, Briar, E. 22nd, Maplewood Avenue and more. Those projects will represent a total investment of $1,104,189 and should be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2022.
The last batch of roadway work will come in the fourth quarter of 2022 and will feature 24 different road projects. Those projects have been submitted to the State of Indiana for review and represent a total investment of $2,150,000. Those road projects are expected to be finished by the end of the year.
The Muncie Sanitary District (MSD) is doing other work that will include street re-pavement. Samples include Riverside Avenue and Hoyt Avenue. Work on those streets will begin once the Muncie Sanitary District (MSD) finishes its drainage work on those roads.
“I’m very happy to see over $6,000,000 of road work scheduled for 2022,” Mayor Ridenour said. “Better streets mean a better quality of place here in Muncie. Partnering with the State and Federal government to offset that cost by more than three million dollars shows our ability to fulfill that commitment in a financially sound way.”
A complete list of streets will be listed on the city website once the 4th quarter batch of streets is approved by the State of Indiana.
