Photos, press release and video from yesterday’s Maplecrest Road Extension project groundbreaking at New Haven.
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Press release:
Start of Maplecrest Extension Project Celebrated
Groundbreaking officially kicks off county’s largest infrastructure project(April 19, 2010) – Allen County’s largest infrastructure project is officially underway.
Local officials gathered today to break ground for the Maplecrest Road Extension project. The ceremony took place in a field on the west side of Do-It-Best Corp. world headquarters on Nelson Road in New Haven. The site is where one of four bridges that are part of the project will be built.
“This project has been in the planning stages for a long time and many of us have patiently waited for this day to come,” said Linda Bloom, president of the Allen County Board of Commissioners.
The project will extend Maplecrest from Lake Avenue to Adams Center Road at Indiana 930 in New Haven. It features construction of one and a-half miles of new four-lane roadway with curb and gutter and four new bridges. It also includes design of new storm sewers, a multi-use trail, traffic signing, and three at-grade intersections, including three traffic signal designs. The work is expected to be completed by the fall of 2012.
According to the 2008 feasibility analysis prepared by RW Armstrong, the construction of the Maplecrest Road Extension alone is expected to have an economic impact of around $86 million for our community – an increase of 79% on the original public investment – and sustain 930 full-time equivalent jobs.
“Transportation is becoming the name of the game when it comes to economic development,” noted Bloom. “Highway construction projects are being recognized for the dollars they expect to generate to local economies as they are being built, not just after completion.”
The total economic output from post-construction private investment is projected to exceed $715 million over an 11-year period, according to the RW Armstrong analysis. That will add $236 million in employee compensation and support more than 7,800 jobs in the County economy.
“This project will also create a safer, more efficient route for the area,” added Bloom. Connection of area streets and roads to the Maplecrest Road Extension will alleviate obstructions caused by two sets of high-volume rail lines and the Maumee River. The connector ramp will allow for elimination of two hazardous at-grade railroad crossings, reducing response time for EMS, fire departments and police. The project should also reduce traffic congestion in the area, removing barriers to travel and freeing additional capacity on other corridors in downtown Fort Wayne and New Haven. This would also have the effect of reducing vehicle miles and hours of travel, fuel consumption and vehicle emissions. Primco, Inc. of Fort Wayne was awarded the construction contract after submitting the low bid of $28.8 million. Engineers’ estimates had originally put construction costs at $44 million.
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