The city of Valparaiso is planning almost $5.7 million in street and sidewalk projects this year. City Engineer Mike Jabo discussed this year's projects with the city council Monday.
"A lot of the roads were based on input . . . but a lot of it is we have a rating system for our roads and we constantly are updating those every year to pick the roads that we think we get the best value of repairing," Jabo said.
Some areas set to be paved include Lincolnway to the roundabout at Sturdy Road, along with the roundabouts on Vale Park Road at State Road 49. Meanwhile, portions of Froberg, Horse Prairie, Jefferson and Campbell are set to get patching.
"The freeze-thaw cycle this winter was pretty great, and it did a lot of damage to our roads. As a matter of fact, I ask you to go up on Froberg Road and look where every place is bad. You'll find it is under the limbs of the trees, so the shading of the tree with the sun in the winter and the coldness and all of that, that contributed to those failures," Jabo explained.
He added that $100,000 has been allocated for crack sealing, plus another $100,000 for alley rehabilitation. The new traffic signal at State Road 130 and Froberg Road is expected to cost about $155,000.
The city is also planning more than $1.9 million for sidewalks and pathways — including the completion of a connector from the Mistwood subdivision to West Wind Drive, an extension of a sidewalk along Harrison Boulevard west from Campbell Street, a connection from Campbell to Bicentennial Park and filling in a three-block gap in the sidewalk on Center Street. "I would think that this is a pretty aggressive program in sidewalks and pathways alone, and I think it's long overdue," Jabo told council members.
Jabo expects work to start after July 4. He'll also present a three-to-five year paving plan later this summer.
