The closures of several roads were discussed today during a brief Warsaw Traffic Safety Commission meeting.
Public Works Superintendent Dustin Dillon told the board the intersection of North CR 100E (Husky Trail) and East CR 200N was reclosed just a couple days ago. NIPSCO is doing utility work out there. Tentatively, the road is expected to be closed until the work is finished Jan. 23, weather permitting.
“But it gets even better because then again in April, that is going to be closed for the Husky Trail bridge project the county has going on. It looks like that road will be closed through July. So it’ll be closed again in April, I think it was April 6,” Dillon said.
City engineer Aaron Ott clarified the intersection will be open, but Husky Trail south of the intersection will be closed for the county’s bridge project.
Dillon said Husky Trail south of the intersection will be closed for the majority of the summer months for the work.
Later in the meeting, on the intersection of Husky Trail and CR 200N, Ott said, “There’s been a seemingly common thought that the city is doing that work for the roundabout project that we’ve talked about going there. Well, that’s not the case. It is utility work related to the county’s bridge (project). And the city’s in the early engineering stages for a roundabout construction at that intersection, but that currently does not have a timeline or anything associated to it yet.”
Ott said it seems it’s “inevitable” that the intersection will have to be closed for the construction of a roundabout “sooner than later” but currently there’s not an established timeline.
Hand Avenue also is closed, Dillon reported. “They closed that Jan. 6. It’s another county project with the bridge reconstruction there. That is projecting to go through May 31,” Dillon said. “Just a couple outlays there as far as road closures that are currently going on that may be areas to avoid.”
In a telephone call after the meeting, Kosciusko County Highway Department Superintendent Steve Moriarty said all the dates for the county’s bridge projects were tentative goals. He hoped the Hand Avenue bridge project would be completed sooner than May 31, but that’s the estimated completion date.
Traffic Administrator Lance Grubbs pointed out at Wednesday’s meeting the railroad crossing at CR 250E is currently closed. Indiana American Water is boring a water line under the railroad tracks. If all goes as planned, the closure is expected to last about another week, according to the town of Winona Lake’s Facebook page.
While it’s not a road closure, Ott reported Anchorage Road has had utility work going on for this whole past year. “But once NIPSCO’s done down out at the intersection of 200 North and Husky, they’re moving their crews to complete gas relocation along Anchorage Road. It’s probably going to have a lot of lane restrictions and flaggers out there for the next several months of this year for utility relocation work to get ahead of the Anchorage Road reconstruction project that the city plans to do this fall - start this fall,” he explained.
That project is between Ind. 15 and U.S. 30.
Dillon’s last comments to the rest of the board were regarding snow.
“Just with the snow season upon us, just a reminder to residents - I know there are some areas of town that we do not have off-street parking available, but be mindful of where we’re parking and relocating vehicles to ease the ability of snowplowing to be as efficient and effective as possible. It’d be greatly appreciated,” he said.
He reminded residents to keep trash cans and other items behind the curb as that helps significantly. “Our arms will reach back behind the curb, by about 5 feet, to grab those. They don’t have to be that close, so that’ll help cut down on (trash cans) being knocked over by the snow and other things as well,” Dillon said.
In other business:
• Warsaw Mayor Jeff Grose gave the oath of office to Warsaw Police Department Patrol Division Capt. Brad Kellar as a new member of the commission. Kellar replaces Lewis Fuller, who left WPD at the end of 2024 to become a school resource officer in Columbia City.
• The commission re-elected WPD Capt. Joel Beam as the secretary for the board for 2025.
• WPD Chief Scott Whitaker told the commission at their next meeting he will present the 2024 annual year-end traffic report to them. The report is provided to the Traffic Safety Commission, the Common Council and to the mayor’s office.
• The Nov. 6 meeting minutes were approved. There was no traffic commission meeting in December.
• The next Warsaw Traffic Safety Commission meeting is at 1 p.m. Feb. 5 in the council chambers at City Hall.