Syracuse - Town council is on the verge of scaling back its proposed Ind. 13 highway project from one mile to five blocks.

Although no vote was taken Tuesday, council instructed an engineer to return Jan. 20 with a cost figure if the project entailed only three lanes from Medusa Street south to Chicago Street.

The original plan included the three-lane segment plus five lanes south past Bowser Street.

Council has been sitting on the project since it granted preliminary approval last fall. The vote was close and many residents oppose the idea of a five-lane highway through the heart of the town's business district.

If the council kills the entire project, the town would still be obligated to repay the federal government $112,000 in engineering costs already incurred.

But an engineer for Butler Fairman and Seufert Ind., Indianapolis, told council the town could approve the entire project and then tell the state they can afford to do only one segment.

The short segment would include improvements to the Chicago Street intersection, one of the town's busiest and heavily used for traffic headed to Wawasee High School and OMC.

One of the original reasons the state was interested in the project was improvements to the intersection, engineer Mark Ortman told the council. "If you build that intersection you've basically satisfied" the state's original objectives, he said.

The proposed segment would also include intersecting roads with Pittsburgh Street, Baltimore Street and Railroad Avenue.

Ortman said if the town constructs the first segment, it would not be obligated to finish the project.

The town would still have to have soil tests completed and seek design approval from the state before construction could begin.

If state funding would become available, construction could begin in about one year, Ortman said. [[In-content Ad]]