SOUTH WHITLEY - The relative peace and quiet of the town's downtown area will be replaced this summer with the sound of jackhammers, dump trucks and the shouts of construction workers as the streetscape undergoes a long-anticipated facelift.

The folds and wrinkles of the uneven and crumbling sidewalks will be hauled off and replaced with smooth concrete, bordered with memorial bricks and lined with ornamental street lights.

Citizens received a construction schedule from Gove Associates engineer Jerry Williams Wednesday during a special meeting of the town council.

The sidewalk reconstruction project is the brainchild of South Whitley's Main Street organization, a project that has come to fruition after four years of planning.

Town council president Judy Earnhart, who also heads the Main Street group, held one edge of a large illustration detailing the extent of the work - from the State Street bridge and three-way intersection to Market Street, and from State Street a couple of blocks down Front Street.

Williams said the triangle-shaped median at the three-way intersection, at Wayne Street, State Street and Ind. 5, will be redesigned and will include planting beds.

In response to questions, Williams said there will be no parking on State Street for most of the summer, 90 to 120 days.

"There will be a trench into the street 18 inches from the curb," he said. "Only one side of the street will be done at a time."

He said while concrete is being poured directly in front of businesses, access to their front doors will be impossible. The area along most storefronts will be "reasonably walkable" during most of the construction.

He recommended that owners direct patrons to back door entrances.

Access to corner businesses like the Uptown Marathon, at State and Front streets, and Carol's Corner, at State and Columbia streets, will have at least one way onto the property during the construction.

"All you'll see out front are trucks and contractors."

The bidding process begins in late March, with the work to commence shortly thereafter.

The street lights will be removed first, the engineer said, and he recommended businesses leave their front lights on for security.

Although there is an anticipated loss of income during such a dramatic renovation, Williams predicted, from past experience, the downtown will "bounce back better or the same."

He said construction preparedness for individual businesses, like sign removal at the gas station, will be handled on a case-by-case basis, and the 2-by-4 holding up the huge awning on the southeast corner of State and Front streets will definitely have to go.

Williams said many property owners take advantage of this type of project to spruce up their storefronts.

The Indiana Department of Transportation sent official notice that resurfacing of Ind. 5 (State Street) is planned for summer 2004 from the bridge to the railroad tracks, with the condition that state funds are available.

Funding for the renovation comes from a $250,000 state grant, a Community Development Block Grant - Community Focus Funds distributed by the Indiana Department of Commerce through the federal Housing and Urban Development Department.

The town's matching funds have come from the utility account, $94,500 from the Program Income Fund, $75,000 from the Utility Fund and $40,000 from the Credit Fund, for a total of $209,500. Other sources have come from Main Street's home and garden tour fund-raisers and memorial brick sale, economic development income tax funds, Whitley County Foundatin and South Whitley Community Facilities grants and private donations.

Town council members are Tom Rudd and Judy Earnhart; Mark Rickerd was absent.

Main Street members include Judy Earnhart, Dennis Norris, Linda Striggle, Susan Hicks, Melissa Smith and Beth Sickafoose. [[In-content Ad]]