Published: November 06, 2009 03:51 pm      

U.S. 40 construction slows traffic in Plainfield

PLAINFIELD — A bridge replacement project and other work on U.S. 40 is causing traffic delays in the downtown area here.

Debbie Calder, public relations director for the Indiana Department of Transportation, said she had recently spoken to the project manager on the U.S. 40 bridge project.

“He said we are about two weeks from moving the traffic on to the other side of the bridge,” Calder said.

The bridge replacement project was awarded to Faulkner Construction with a pricetag of $2,847,000. It is being funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which is also referred to as the “stimulus” funds.

Calder said the projected completion date on the project is April 18, 2010.

Don McGillem, transportation director for the town of Plainfield, said the state project has fallen behind schedule.

“But that has worked out pretty well for us,” McGillem said. “It’s been good for our Street Scape project.”

The town is also completing work from just east of the bridge to Avon Avenue.

“We’re just restricting traffic,” McGillem said. “It takes time, but you can get through.”

But all motorists aren’t so patient. Town officials had to install speed bumps in the town parking lot to slow down those who were cutting through there to avoid some of the traffic congestion.

“We did have more traffic going through the town’s parking lot,” McGillem said. “Some of them were zipping through here pretty quickly. The speed bumps have slowed that down.”

A representative from Al’s Donuts said their business has been suffering since the project began. Even the most loyal customers are not stopping in as often as normal.

The employees don’t have any problems getting in and out of the store since they enter through an alley. It’s the customers who need to get back onto U.S. 40 that are having the most difficulties.

McGillem said they haven’t had too many complaints.

“Honestly, we got more complaints when we had to close Center Street for the sewer project,” he said. “And (U.S.) 40 was getting to be in such bad shape most people realize that this really needed to get done.”

He said closing U.S. 40 has never even been discussed.

“We’ve never closed 40 and we don’t plan on it,” McGillem said.

INDOT will also be completing new curbing and gutters throughout the project, Calder said.

“We will also be widening the sidewalks to six feet,” she added.

brenda.holmes@flyergroup.com