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Last updated on Thursday, February 6, 2014
(ODON) - The Indiana Department of Transportation has awarded an additional $11.6 million dollars for the continuation of the Odon-Cannelburg Road Project in Daviess County.
The project will widen the roadway, add specific lanes for buggies and add additional shoulders.
The Washington Times-Herald reports that Commissioner Tony Wichman says the road will benefit the businesses and tourism, but the core of this project is safety.
According to Wichman In the last 10 years, there have been three traffic fatalities along the roadway. In the last three years, eight accidents involving injuries and 39 property damage crashes have taken place. The narrow road is a regular mix of semis, large trucks, passenger vehicles, and horse and buggies.
The county has already received close to $11 million to do that work up to County Road 800 North. The new funding will run the rest of the way to County Road 1250 North near Odon.
Daviess County had already obtained much of the funding for the first phase of the project.
The 11.6 million dollars announced Tuesday will pay for the remaining two phases.
The road is being widened and buggy lanes are being constructed.
Officials say the project is critical for Daviess County to make travel safer for the local Amish community along the busy economic corridor. It will also connect the Amish community to U.S. 50 and I-69.
Normally it takes 7 years to carry out a project like this. Officials expect to start construction on this last segment in late 2016 and have it finished by the end of 2018.
The grant for road way was part of $86 million in projects awarded around the state.
Other area projects include three bridge projects in Pike County, a connector road in Santa Claus, road reconstruction on State Street in Mount Vernon, new sign installation in the City of Huntingburg, Knox, Crawford and Sullivan counties and trail projects in Mount Vernon and Santa Claus.
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