County officials this week agreed to appropriate funding that will be used to pay for the local matching portion of the 2025 road overlay program.
Bartholomew County Council members on Tuesday granted a request from county engineering to appropriate $1.65 million to match state contributions from the Community Crossings Matching Grant (CCMG) program that will go towards work on about 30 miles of county roads.
The CCMG program is intended to advance community infrastructure projects, strengthen local transportation networks and improve Indiana’s roads and bridges. Communities had been able to apply for up to $1.5 million in funding annually. The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) administers the program and offers two calls for projects each year in January and in July.
To qualify, county governments are required to provide varying matching local funds, depending on the size of a community. For counties with a population greater than 50,000 including Bartholomew County, local governments are required to match the amount of funding received through the INDOT program dollar for dollar.
The county received the full $1.5 million after the first round of calls this year, and is combining that with about $150,000 that was left over from the second round of calls in 2024. With local matching obligations, the county was required to put up $1.5 million and about $150,000 for each, resulting in about $3.3 million in work. The county’s match is derived from county economic development income tax (CEDIT) dollars.
The county enlisted Milestone Contractors to do the project, which involves the following roads:
Clay Township
County Road 425E, from County Road 50N to County Road 100N (0.488 miles)
County Road 475E, from County Road 50N to County Road 100N (0.424 miles)
County Road 100N, from County Road 425E to County Road 475E (0.521 miles)
County Road 500E, from East 25th St. to County Road 400N (2.55 miles)
Clifty Township
County Road 200N, from State Road 46 to County Road 1200E (2.977 miles)
County Road 265N, from Newbern to Huffer Road (0.349 miles)
Huffer Road, from County Road 265 to County Road 1000E. (1.992 miles)
Newbern Road, from south of Bridge 25 to the end of Bridge 26. (1.816 miles)
Hillcrest Road, from County Road 475E to County Road 500E (0.25 miles)
Columbus Township
South Heights Court (0.093 miles)
Flat Rock Township
County Road 100E, from County Road 550N to North Terminus. (1.112 miles)
County Road 250E, from County Road 550N to County Road 600N (0.505 miles)
County Road 425E, from County Road 800N to County Road 900N (1.004 miles)
River Grove, from County Road 800 to North Terminus (0.322 miles)
German Drive, from County Road 800N to River Grove (0.19 miles)
German Court, from German Drive to Terminus (0.038 miles)
River Grove Court (0.07 miles)
German Township
County Road 800N, from U.S. 31 to County Road 50W (2.449 miles)
County Road 200W, from County Road 800N to County Road 900N ((1.021 miles)
County Road 700N, from Hubler Drive to County Road 200W (0.295 miles)
Truck Wash Road (0.06 miles)
Harrison Township
White Horse Road, from County Line Road to County Road 170S (1.291 miles)
Haw Creek Township
County Road 900E, from Stafford Road to County Road 1000N (1.044 miles)
County Road 1200E, from County Road 800N to County Road 950N (1.508 miles)
County Road 750N, from Hope to County Road 735N (0.473 miles)
Jackson Township
County Road 525W, from County Road 930S to North Terminus (0.17 miles)
Spray Road, from State Road 58 to County Road 550W (1.707 miles)
Ohio Township
County Road 700W, from both entrances of County Road 525S (0.272 miles)
County Road 550W, from South Terminus to County Road 550S (0.719 miles)
County Road 400W, from County Road 200S to Deaver Road (1.82 miles)
Rock Creek Township
County Road 750E, from County Road 400S to County Road 300S. (1.003 miles)
Sand Creek-Rock Creek townships
County Road 525E, from State Road 7 to County Road 300S (0.511 miles)
Wayne Township
Ariana Trail, from South Terminus to County Road 300S (0.19 miles)
Vine and Pine streets (0.488 miles)
Crews will also wrap up four projects using the leftover 2024 CCMG funding to: Belleville Pike, from Poplar Drive to County Road 650W; County Road 400W, from State Road 58 to Deaver Road; County Road 620N, from County Road 900E to County Road 1000E; and Country Road 1200E, from County Road 950N to County Road 1000N.
Changes made last legislative session will significantly change how the CCMG program works in the future, and will ultimately result in local governments competing for a scarcer amount of funding.
House Bill 1461 tweaked CCMG, significantly decreasing the amount of funds local governments have at their disposal and separating out how the funds will be distributed via matching grants, as well as a direct distribution component.
Rather than $260 million in matching grant funds, just $100 million will be awarded. And half of the funding must go to counties and towns with a population less than 50,000, which excludes Bartholomew County.
The bill allocated $20 million toward financing a railroad crossing upgrade project from 2026 to 2030. In addition, starting in 2027 and each following year, $50 million would be transferred to Indianapolis for use on secondary streets if Indianapolis matches the funds.
Money that is leftover would be allocated to a new, separate, direct distribution fund, that in turn is directed to counties and cities with populations over 5,000 depending on lane mileage. But that funding is only available to units that have adopted a wheel tax by the end of June 2027.
