The City of Valparaiso has been awarded an additional $220,075 in the latest round of Community Crossings grant funding through the Indiana Department of Transportation, announced Governor Eric Holcomb. Community Crossings funds awarded earlier this year, together with the City’s appropriated funding for roadways, allowed the City of Valparaiso to complete its largest-ever paving season, with an ambitious $8.8 million in roadway projects for 2024 – more than double of the previous year’s budget.
“Historically, over the past several years, we have been committing about $3.5 million annually for road maintenance. Compare that to the annual budget of about $300,000 when I first took office 20 years ago. Certainly, costs have increased, but this aggressive annual budget of nearly $9 million for 2024 reflects a renewed priority on roadways and we continue to seek ways to keep this progress going,” said Mayor Jon Costas.
In addition to the Community Crossings matching grant, the City Council appropriated funds for 2024 roadways from the local road and street fund, riverboat funds and the motor vehicle fund, with no need to raise any taxes or fees.
Evaluating Roadways
Roads are evaluated each year. As an asset management system, the City uses the national PASER rating system, which stands for Pavement Assessment Surface Evaluation Rating and assigns a value of 1 through 10 to each roadway. The number reflects the quality, including things like the amount and frequency of cracks and potholes. A brand new road is rated a 10 whereas older fractured streets requiring extensive reconstruction are at 1 and 2.
“The PASER system attempts to provide objective criteria and is beneficial in choosing the right application for the right road at the right time,” said City Engineer Max Rehlander. “Each year, the Engineering Dept assesses the road condition via PASER; then combines that with other factors such as functional classification and amount of traffic to provide a recommendation. We try to maximize our funding for the best long-term results,” he said. To learn more about how paving decisions are made in Valparaiso, view a short video here.
View Interactive Map of Projects
The City’s Engineering Department has created an interactive map showing roadway projects, including life-extending crack sealing, as well as sidewalk projects. The map allows users to find all 2024 infrastructure improvements and even enter addresses to find projects nearby. By clicking the project location on the map, users can learn more about the project scope and location. Click here to view the map.