120 North Michigan Street Plymouth, Indiana 46563 1-219-936-2323
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April 1998Road Construction Update . . .Reports and rumors about a total closure of U.S. 30 and U.S. 31 are false! We have received numerous calls from our members asking for details. Clearly, with the abundance of improvements planned there will be some inconvenience and some additional traffic. However, the magnitude of the problem seems to be greatly diminished from the initial proposal. Most of our retail members seem to favor some additional traffic, which will hopefully increase their sales opportunities. Your chamber will continue to monitor the situation and work with the government agencies to minimize any negative impact on our members. Mike Strang, our City Engineer, prepared the following update for us.
It's spring, and time to schedule summer activities. Not vacations but work, that is street paving, curb installation, sewer and water pipe replacement, causing lane closures and detours.
INDOT, the Marshall County Commissioners and the Plymouth Street Department all have work in the area and are trying to schedule their various projects to minimize the inconvenience to the traveling public. (1) INDOT will be repairing storm sewer inlets on SR 17 and repaving from the hospital, through downtown and north Klinger Street (Schoop's). This work should begin in April and end about September. (2) There will be work on the U.S. 30 and U.S. 31 interchange bridges and the U.S. 30 bridges over the Yellow River. The State Highway will do this work in phases. They will switch all of the traffic onto the westbound lanes while working on the eastbound lanes, then reverse the procedure. During this construction some traffic will be using SR 17 and Michigan Road, but no through traffic should ever be funneled into the city. INDOT will also be paving on U.S. 30 east of the interchange and placing a traffic light at U.S. 30 and King Road. Scheduled to begin in April, this project should conclude sometime in the fall. 
(3) The Oak Hill Extension Project, which will link S. Michigan Road to SR 17 near the hospital, should start construction late this summer or early fall. The Corps of Engineers has requested a change in plans, and is now reviewing the changes to make sure they are correct.
(4) A sewer line will be installed along Lincolnway, from the Shady Rest County Home west to Candy Lane. (5) The city's Oak Road reconstruction project was supposed to start this fall. The review process is not completed and additional land cannot be procured until we are reasonably sure there will be no additional changes. If right-of-way procurements takes longer than anticipated, construction will not start until next spring. (6) The City Street Department has a full slate of repaving work scattered throughout the city, although these are smaller projects and should only take a few days each. The City Sewer Department will also be repairing sanitary and storm sewers throughout the city. (7) One of the biggest projects will be started by the city's Water Department. Along with the normal scheduled repairs of water mains, valves, and services, the department will be starting the new well field in the northwest corner of town. If the city continues to grow, the Water Department will soon reach its capacity at the existing well field.  IDEM has started a well head protection plan that will require that we have an alternate source of the water in case of contamination. Water mains will be laid from the new field back into the existing water piping system. A new water main is being planned along east Jefferson Street. This project should have only a minimal effect on traffic.
As you can tell from all of the work described, a very busy construction season lies ahead. The SR 17 project is supposed to start in April as well as the U.S. 30 and U.S. 31 interchange project. |
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