|
| |
Pigeon Creek Greenway Passage: GOOD NEWS !!!! The Indiana Department of
Transportation has informed the Evansville Department of Parks and Recreation
and the Greenway Passage Advisory Board that they will let the bids for Section
III-C (known as the West Levee Corridor) on October 19. Hopefully, we will begin
construction sometime this year. The new portion will connect with the casino at
Fulton and will end at West Franklin St. and will cost approximately 2.2 million
excluding the cost of building the Joan Marchand Park and rehabbing the Old Ohio
Street bridge as a river overlook, and the new industrial pavilion.
The General Waste Salvage Yard has been cleaned of hazardous wastes according to
the Indiana Department of Environmental Management’s (IDEM) requirements and the
Parks Department is now waiting for the final soil test results to complete the
property acquisition. When we begin construction of the trail, the General Waste
Site will become a trail head with parking, bathrooms, and the industrial
pavilion.
Because the expansion of Highway 62 will take the Orr Iron Building which has
historic preservation status, the destruction of the building has to be
mitigated. The State mandated the mitigation will be comprised of an industrial
pavilion utilizing parts from the Orr Building, an archeological investigation
of the Wabash & Erie Canal site utilizing a radar penetrating device, and
educational signs and brochures. The city is asking for the mitigation money
early so the pavilion can be built at the same time the rest of the construction
takes place.
Also, the highway expansion will take some of the West Side Nut Club Park;
consequently, the State has agreed to pay $404,000 to build a park elsewhere.
Westside Improvement Association, the Pigeon Creek Greenway Passage Advisory
Board, and the Evansville Department of Parks and Recreation decided those funds
could build the new Joan Marchand Park next to the Old Ohio Street Bridge. This
park will contain additional overlooks to the river and other amenities. Because
there was not enough money to build the park when the rest of the construction
is taking place, the city has appealed to the State for early mitigation of the
$404,000 as well.
One of the main reasons for wanting to build this park at the same time as the
rest of the construction is that we don’t want to obstruct Ohio Street more than
once. The traffic plan is to keep one lane of Ohio St. open during construction
of the trail, but the fact that over 450 gravel trucks, 150 granary trucks,
trains, Mead Johnson Nutritional employees, and many other vehicles utilizing
the Ray Becker Parkway will be restricted to one lane is mindboggling. Westside
Improvement Association has appealed to the major businesses in the area to
contact the governor or INDOT to request early mitigation funds for the Nut Club
Park so we don’t have to piecemeal this job over a long period of time.
Shirley James, Chair
|
