County Gets $16 Million for Nucor Overpass

It was a day worth celebrating in Montgomery County.

Worth 16 million celebrations actually.

The Indiana Department of Transportation announced that the intersection project that will result in an overpass at Nucor Road and US 136 has received $16,036,200. It’s a project that has been long in the planning.

“Nearly a dozen years ago, Duke Energy hired Banning Engineering to do a site readiness study to educate the leaders in Montgomery County on what industry site selectors look for when visiting a community to decide whether to build or expand,” Montgomery County Commissioner John Frey said. “Jeff Banning and I approached this intersection at US 136, with the steep grades. He shared with me that a site selector is not here to see why their client wants to come to your community, a site selector comes to your community to eliminate you. Jeff told me that if a site selector came down that steep grade, and saw that dangerous intersection, that he would turn and leave our community immediately! And more than likely we would not even know he was there! He said that liability alone would make that decision.”

Since that time, multiple officials have worked on finding an answer. When INDOT announced that the Nucor Road overpass project was included in nearly $156 million of federal transportation funding that’s being awarded to 51 cities, towns and counties in rural portions of Indiana, local officials had cause to celebrate.

“We can’t thank our team enough!” Frey continued. “The commissioners, the county council and the redevelopment commission have been working on this for years. Their vision, determination, along with the guidance and expertise of the Loughmiller Group has made this possible. Montgomery County is going to benefit from this for generations.

“Nucor, and many of the other manufacturers in the corridor have voiced their support for our project,” Frey added. “INDOT obviously sees the value as well with this investment in our community.”

According to the county, the Loughmiller Group worked on the design and engineering plan for the overpass, which goes through a review as required by the state.  After that, environmental documents are prepared and submitted to the state Department of Natural Resources.

County Manager Tom Klein indicated that a public meeting to review the project details will take place in the next few months. The estimated cost of the total project is almost $22 million. The county is responsible for the almost $6 million difference. That money will be paid through new industrial growth and expansions in that area that have already occurred.