Carmel allocates additional $1 million to road repaving after ‘tough’ winter

The Carmel City Council on Monday night approved spending an additional $1 million on road work this year.

Councilors said after a tough winter, the extra funding will help the city repave more streets.

Each year, the city budgets $5 million toward paving projects, which allows the city to repave about 40 to 45 miles of roadway. With the extra $1 million, the city will be able to repave an additional 10 miles of roadway. Altogether, the city’s street department handles maintenance for more than 460 miles of roadway within city limits.

“Every year, we’re challenged to stretch our dollars as far as they go, and we’ve continued to look for was to improve our road system,” Councilor Sue Finkam said. “And this year, we just need a few more dollars to help kind of play catch up. … When there’s a large thaw-and-frost season, it does get bad on our roads.”

The $1 million will be transferred from the general fund to the motor highway vehicle fund. The general fund had a year-end operating balance of $11.5 million for 2018, up from $7 million in 2017.

Major city streets that are slated to be repaved this summer include a portion of East Main Street; Carmel Drive from Range Line Road to Keystone Parkway; Guilford Road from Old Meridian Street to Main Street; and Smokey Road from Range Line Road to Old Meridian Street.

A full list of streets slated to be repaved can be found here.