Published: June 06, 2008 12:07 am         

State gives part of Indiana 63, check for $5M to Terre Haute

TERRE HAUTE — The Indiana Department of Transportation gave the City of Terre Haute $5 million plus a piece of Indiana 63 in a ceremony Thursday in City Hall.

The city will use the money for maintenance on the approximately four-mile stretch of highway. It also will use the money to improve the intersection where Prairieton Road and Hulman and First streets converge, according to city officials.

“This money will go a long way,” said Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett, speaking at the short ceremony.

Indiana 63 in Terre Haute on the south side is known as Prairieton Road. Indiana 63 also includes a small section of Hulman Street that runs from Prairieton Road to U.S. 41.

Prior to this move, the state provided snow removal and maintenance on this section of highway, said Alan Plunkett, an INDOT official.

By gaining control over this stretch of highway, which extends from Hulman and Third streets south to Lombardi Street near the U.S. Penitentiary, the city and property owners along the highway will have less red tape to deal with when they want to engage in improvements or other projects, Bennett said.

In the past, zoning requests along this piece of highway would need to go through the state; now, they can go through the city government, Bennett said.

“We will be able to expedite the improvements there,” Bennett said, adding that it is a growing trend for state roads that are currently a part of a municipality to be turned over to those cities and towns.

The City of Terre Haute first approached INDOT to gain control over this piece of Indiana 63 under former Mayor Kevin Burke, Plunkett said. “We worked with the previous mayor and finished up with Mayor Bennett,” he said.

The biggest reason the city wanted control over part of Indiana 63 was to ensure the intersection of First Street, Hulman Street and Indiana 63 could be upgraded, said former Mayor Burke in an interview Thursday. Upgrading that intersection was not something INDOT was planning, he noted.

Burke said his administration originally sought a much larger portion of Indiana 63 and hoped to use money from INDOT to support the Margaret Avenue project.

Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.