By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW — An engineering study for a roundabout at the intersection of CR 200N and Husky Trail will be conducted by A & Z Engineering after the Warsaw Redevelopment Commission approved the contract Monday, July 1.

The total cost is $156,620.

Warsaw Community and Economic Development Director Jeremy Skinner told the commission he didn’t know when they would get to the construction part of the roundabout, but as funding opportunities came up – whether they’re grants or federal funds – “it’s helpful to have these projects ready to go. A lot of timeframes on these opportunities come in very small windows, so I’d like to start the engineering on this roundabout at Husky Trail and 200.”

The contract with A & Z is just for the engineering of the roundabout.

“And then this project would be ready to go. I don’t know that we would do that next year, but we might. It just depends on the timing and what other projects come up. I do know this project needs to be done, and there’s right-of-way that probably needs to be acquired and that takes some time. So we need to get the project engineered so we can identify the right-of-way that needs to be (acquired), work with the property owners to acquire the right-of-way, and then this project would be ready to go,” Skinner said.

He said they know there’s traffic issues out there at the intersection now and it’s an ideal location for a roundabout. There’s heavy traffic flowing one way in the morning, and then the opposite way in the afternoon.

“A roundabout at this location would be really efficient and safe,” Skinner said.

The city has a lot of projects going on, and if the engineering part of the roundabout is ready to go, he said it’ll be easier to pull the trigger on the roundabout.

For clarification purposes, Commission member and former mayor Joe Thallemer asked if the intersection was surrounded by city on all four sides.

“The road is all ours,” Skinner said, but not all of the surrounding property was in the city limits.

Thallemer asked if the county had finished redoing the bridge on Husky Trail. Skinner said he thought they were getting closer to redoing it, but he didn’t have a timeframe.

In May, Kosciusko County Highway Superintendent Steve Moriarty told the county commissioners that the bridge project would cost almost $350,000 more than expected, for a total cost of about $4.7 million, with the Indiana Department of Transportation paying for 80% of the project. The commissioners approved the additional cost. The bridge project has been ongoing since 2013.
Thallemer commented it would be nice if the bridge and roundabout projects could be done simultaneously. Skinner said technically they were supposed to have been done when the city redid Husky Trail with sidewalks, curbing and lighting.

Skinner said he didn’t know what the county’s timeframe was on the bridge.

In other business, the commission approved:

• The seven 2025 budgets as presented by Skinner. The Warsaw Common Council will still need to review and approve them.

Of the seven budgets, only the redevelopment general budget is a tax rate budget, with the other six coming from tax increment financing funds.

The budgets include $292,180 for redevelopment general; $6,189,285 for Northern TIF; $65,000 for Winona Interurban TIF; $151,601.75 for Marketplace TIF; $450,000 for Warsaw Technology Park; $545,000 for Northern Residential TIF; and $350,000 for Southern Residential TIF.

• Claims, including $235.97 to Indiana American Water; $104.52 and $282.48 to NIPSCO; $50 to Kosciusko County Recorder; $12,190 to A & Z Engineering LLC; $234,708.16 to G & G Hauling & Excavating; $7,000 to Griffin Real Estate Services Inc.; $7,000 to Verne V. Mitchell & Associates Inc.; $18,356.48 to Barnes & Thornburg LLP; $300 to Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation; and $42,000 to West Hill Development.