Local Government

Shared road agreement receives favorable nod

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A shared road maintenance agreement between the City of Crawfordsville and the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners is nearing approval from the city council.

The agreement, which commissioners approved in August, seeks to clear up confusion over whose crews maintain roads straddling the city and county limits. The council’s fiscal affairs committee gave its favorable recommendation Monday.

“We’ve worked out an arrangement we think divides [the roads] up evenly and in a way that makes sense,” Crawfordsville Mayor Todd Barton told the committee.

The plan designates entire sections of roads on the border, such as C.R. 150S and Schenck Road, to the city or county for paving, clearing snow, setting speed limits and other maintenance.

Last week, commissioners passed a resolution affirming its agreement to maintain C.R. 150S from State Road 47 to U.S. 231. The city will take over maintenance from U.S. 231 to Ladoga Road.

Under previous annexation laws, maintenance of roads in front of land annexed by the city were split down the middle between the separate governments, which caused a problem when it came time to do paving or plow snow.

The law has since changed to give the city control of roads next to annexed property.

The full city council is expected to hear first reading of the agreement next Monday.

In other business, the fiscal affairs committee gave favorable recommendations to the yearly re-establishments of the cumulative fire fund, which is used to replace fire trucks, and the cumulative capital development fund, which funds the purchase of equipment and capital expenditures.

Street commissioner Scott Hesler reported that crews removed about 200 dump truck loads worth of snow from downtown following last month’s snowstorm.

City council president Andy Biddle publicly thanked the workers, which included city and county road crews and private contractors.


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