The town of Culver’s downtown project is underway, and Town Manager David Schoeff said they expect the majority of the project to be completed by the end of November. The Main Street Streetscape project, Schoeff explained, consists of a number of improvements to sidewalks, crosswalks, and intersections in an effort to beautify the town.
Schoeff said several new crosswalks will be added, and brick-stamping will be performed on new and existing crosswalks. In addition, decorative brick-stamping will be performed in the sidewalks themselves as an enhancement to the neighborhood’s curb appeal, and the sidewalks will be smoothed out. Further, Schoeff said the intersections will feature bump-outs and plantings.
A bump-out is the extension of the curb at the corners of a four-way intersection, narrowing the road and effectively eliminating the shoulder. Bump-outs shorten the time a pedestrian is exposed to traffic, and are reported to slow traffic at the intersection.
The project began in 2009 with the application process, and the design phase kicked off in 2010. The project bids were requested in August of this year and the project was ultimately awarded to Rieth-Riley of South Bend. The work finally kicked off a couple weeks ago.
The project is funded by a federal INDOT grant for the Transportation Enhancement project with an estimated cost of $600,000. The town of Culver is responsible for matching roughly 20 percent of that amount.
