Over $3.7 million is headed to Monroe County and its municipalities for a substantial infrastructure upgrade, courtesy of state and federal grant programs. The City of Bloomington, Monroe County, the Town of Ellettsville, and the Town of Stinesville are the beneficiaries of this collective windfall aimed at improving road safety and infrastructure, according to the City of Bloomington.
The funds are split among several projects, with grants conferred by the Federal Highway Administration's Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) and INDOT’s Community Crossings Matching Grant. The shared goal is to advance pedestrian safety, enhance accessibility, and renew critical transportation veins within the region. "These are the kinds of wins residents deserve to hear about," Mayor Kerry Thomson stated in a release, touting the benefits of outside funding to sharpen local infrastructure without further taxing the citizenry, as per the City of Bloomington.
Specifically, Bloomington was awarded an HSIP grant of $860,940 last December to bring curb ramps up to current ADA guidelines downtown. This endeavor will concentrate on areas where compliance is lagging, and traffic is high. Moreover, Monroe County is pinpointing a sizeable $418,500 HSIP grant for key safety upgrades on Fairfax Road, confronting hazardous curves that could pose a threat to unwary motorists and pedestrians alike.
The Community Crossings Matching Grant will fuel Bloomington's North Walnut Street overhaul, injecting $760,262 into paving, guardrails, and compliant curb ramps. Additionally, Monroe County is putting a $1.5 million slice of the same grant toward paving across 28 miles of county roads. Ellettsville and Stinesville also got a piece of the pie with awards of $258,182, and $69,778, respectively, for local infrastructure improvements. These strategic allocations serve as a testament to the region's commitment to bolstering its transportation framework through concerted, cooperative action.
