Published: July 02, 2009 01:35 pm      

Property acquisitions considered along Hamburg Pike in Jeffersonville

Board approves contract to appraise, purchase property for rebuild

Jeffersonville’s Board of Public Works and Safety approved a contract for right-of-way services on a project which seeks to rebuild Hamburg Pike.

The contract — which is not to exceed $419,770 — was signed with the engineering firm Jacobi, Toombs and Lanz during a Wednesday morning meeting.

The firm will hire appraisers to evaluate needed land, review appraisals and purchase property needed to expand the pike.

The project seeks to level hills, raise valleys, resurface and add sidewalks to Hamburg Pike. It also adds new curbs and gutters, builds a retaining wall near Walnut Ridge Cemetery and straightens out a sharp curve near the Mill Creek bridge.

In a previous interview, board member Bob Miller estimated that the project likely would cost about $6.5 million.

The Kentuckiana Regional Planning and Development Agency, commonly known as KIPDA, has committed up to $5 million to the project. The city will have to come up with a 20 percent match for whatever the agency pays.

City officials are hoping to finish property acquisition this year and start construction in 2010.