Huntingburg Council moves forward on Fourth Street funding, no construction start date yet
The Huntingburg Common Council took its first formal funding action on the Fourth Street reconstruction project Tuesday night, introducing an additional appropriation ordinance to cover costs beyond what the city had already set aside for the road.
The Huntingburg Board of Public Works and Safety approved reconstructing the street by pouring a concrete foundation for the pavers, as originally planned when the project was under consideration during the Stellar Community program. The concrete base was removed from those plans due to the budget. However, since completion, the road has slowly compressed under vehicle traffic, causing ruts and pronounced drops at the intersections — intersections are more impacted by the forces involved in turning, stopping and accelerating.
The board of public works had several solutions developed by VS Engineering and chose this one for its longevity—it is expected to last 50 years, though pavers would have to be replaced—and its ability to maintain the street’s aesthetic.
Councilman Glen Kissling said that in the meetings with merchants he attended, the nearly unanimous consensus from them was to keep the pavers.
The $692,000 construction bid estimate, plus 1% for engineering ($69,200) and a $88,800 contingency, brings the total project cost to roughly $850,000. The city has lined up $139,000 from the Stellar endowment, $440,000 from the Local Road and Street Account (LRSA) fund, $98,000 from the East Styline TIF, and $173,000 from the 400 West City TIF.
Clerk-Treasurer Tom Dippel presented an additional appropriation ordinance, along with a spending plan for the city’s redevelopment commission to consider for the two TIF areas. The council voted to introduce the ordinance and set a public hearing for July 14, after which the council can formally adopt it.
No construction timeline has been finalized. City officials said they’re still working with Fourth Street merchants to finalize scheduling before locking in dates. Officials reiterated they want to avoid construction during the merchants’ busiest stretch — roughly October through the end of December, when some businesses do half their annual sales — and are now eyeing a window from May through August instead.
There’s also an external deadline pushing the timeline: Dubois County and state tourism offices finalize their annual event guides in August, so the city needs a construction window settled well before then to avoid conflicting with the street’s event calendar.
Once underway, officials estimated each side of the street could be closed for 30 to 60 days, with the concrete itself needing seven to 14 days to cure before bricks can be relaid. The project will affect only the travel lanes — parking areas along Fourth Street will remain untouched, though the city plans to use differently colored bricks for the parking-space lines to mark them more clearly.
This story has been edited to clarify how the parking spaces will be affected.
