Huntingburg advances Fourth Street funding for brick paver overhaul

Huntingburg’s Common Council took its first formal funding step for a Fourth Street overhaul Tuesday, introducing an additional appropriation ordinance to cover costs beyond money already set aside for the road. City leaders still have not set a start date.

The funding action follows the Huntingburg Board of Public Works and Safety’s unanimous approval of a reconstruction plan that would place a concrete base under the existing brick pavers. That option carries an estimated price of $692,000, making it the most expensive of five choices VS Engineering presented to the city. The other options ranged from a $315,000 asphalt surface to a $422,000 full concrete surface, a $437,000 partial concrete base at intersections and a $578,000 stamped concrete option.

The concrete base is meant to solve the durability problems that have shown up on the street, where the original base layer was trimmed from the plan and the road began compressing under traffic. Dustin Schmett said replacing the pavers without a stronger base could leave the city facing the same problem again in five to seven years. Mayor Neil Elkins said the city’s road-funding picture has tightened, with state funding for local road projects down by about $1.8 million since he took office.

Kathryn Wilder, secretary for the Huntingburg Merchants Association, said merchants wanted the repair to be safe, attractive, cost-effective and finished quickly. Elkins said at least one merchant worried that a long closure could be devastating, and the concrete options were estimated at 60 to 120 days of work in two phases, with at least half of Fourth Street kept open.

Chad Brian, owner of Huntingburg Grind Coffee and Tea, told the board he was injured after tripping on a loose paver on Fourth Street. The corridor is part of the historic downtown district, lined with two-story Italianate and late Victorian commercial buildings from the 1800s and early 1900s. The city is keeping Fourth Street open for business during construction, helping customers find parking, and using temporary traffic-management signs, vibration monitors and pre-construction video documentation. Earlier Fourth Street Heritage Trail phases closed sections of the street to vehicular traffic.