Lindberg Drive, north of North Lincoln Street, will be reconstructed with new curbs, sidewalks and street. InkFreeNews photo by Dan Spalding.

Editor’s note: The reporter of this story lives in the neighborhood mentioned below.

By Dan Spalding
InkFreeNews

WARSAW – Residents along a stretch of Lindberg Drive in Warsaw will soon be getting new streets, curbs and sidewalks – almost identical to the work done a few years ago on nearby Johnson Street and Lincoln Drive.

The city now expects the project – phase two of three planned for Hodges addition – to begin this year.

On Friday, the city Board of Works and Safety approved a recommendation by the public works department to award G&G Hauling and Exacavating with the construction contract. G&G’s bid of $1,008,964 came in nearly $200,000 less than the other bid from Phend & Brown.

Nearly half of the project will be funded with a state Community Crossings grant. The city’s share will come from money from the wheel tax, the motor vehicle highway fund and a stormwater capital improvements fund.

Reconstruction will extend from North Lincoln Street north to where it dead ends and leads to the southern end of Breyer Farm Trail.

Construction could begin within a few months, Dillon said.

Phase 3 will involve the reconstruction of North Lincoln Street east of Lindberg. That’s dependent on securing more grant money, but could happen in two or three years, Dillon said.

According to a Google map, the project will directly affect about 30 homes in the neighborhood.

The board also addressed two other significant issues Friday.

The board approved a stop order on construction at the Kelly Park pond after a design flaw was discovered.

The issue involves inaccurate elevations of the property, which will require a rethinking of how to drain storm water away from the pond, said city engineer Aaron Ott.

Reconstruction of the pond had begun in June and was expected to wrap up in November.

The stop order allows the contractor, G&G, to shift priorities while the city figures out how to remedy the complication.

G&G discovered the error and alerted the city.

The design work that included the error in elevation was from Christopher Burke Engineering, South Bend.

In another matter, the city finalized plans to provide sewer service to the newly established Tippecanoe Chapman Regional Sewer District north of Warsaw.

Infrastructure construction is expected to begin soon and will continue into 2024, according to Brian Davison, the city’s utility manager.

The city rebuilt and expanded its sewer treatment plant anticipating it would likely begin serving a new major customer.

The sewer district is expected to send about 320,000 gallons per month when it begins operations. The district contract reserves up to 400,000 gallons to allow for growth, Davison said.

The city also provides sewer service to the towns of Winona Lake, Leesburg and a few mobile home parks.

The new treatment plant has a capacity to handle six million gallons and is running at about 50 percent.

In other matters, the board approved plans by the public works department and the police department to seek fuel bids.

The board also approved plans to replace 53 decorative street lights in the downtown by using American Recovery Act money. City council already signed off on the plan.