Chesterton Street Commissioner John Schnadenberg believes strongly in giving credit where credit is due.
In this case, the credit goes to Assistant Town Engineer Matt Gavelek, who assumed the responsibility last summer for preparing the notoriously complex application for a 50/50 Community Crossings state infrastructure grant.
On Nov. 7, Gov. Eric Holcomb’s office announced that the Town of Chesterton was the recipient of yet another Community Crossings grant, this one in the amount of $299,190.52, for a package of paving projects scheduled for 2025.
“A lot of communities don’t have the resources to complete that grant application themselves and have to hire it out,” Schnadenberg says. “They have engineering companies do it because INDOT is very particular. So kudos to Matt for once again getting us a Community Crossings grant.”
Gavelek estimates that he devoted 40 hours to this latest Community Crossings grant application, which requires scads of information and data: The kind of project; the Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating (PASER) of each road; the length in linear feet of each road; detailed cost estimates; whether right-of-way will need to be obtained; whether curb ramps will need to be installed.
“A big part of the data collection process begins with the coring of the roads ahead of time,” Gavelek adds. “Coring shows the layers of asphalt which have accumulated over the years and the condition of that asphalt, so we can determine the depth we’ll need to mill in order for the new coat of asphalt to bind properly to a suitable connecting layer. That way we won’t be surprised down the road by what’s under the road.”
And every time the Street Department performs a coring, it’s saving $4,000 or thereabouts: What it would cost to hire a contractor to do it, had not Schnadenberg opted some time ago to purchase a corer for the Street Department. In fact, Gavelek says, by completing the entirety of the application in-house, the Town of Chesterton is likely saving tens of thousands of dollars which would otherwise be spent on consultants.
“We’re extremely fortunate to have Matt on our team,” Schnadenberg says. “He has an excellent reputation regionally but also statewide as a specialist in asphalt work. But Matt’s been a great addition ever since he started with the Town of Chesterton. He’s methodical and meticulous and brings a really big skill set to the table.”
This most recent Community Crossings grant will partially fund the repave of the following roads:
- CHESTNUT BLVD.—both east- and westbound lanes—between South Fifth Street and Greenmeadow Lane.
- WOODLAWN AVE. between Waverly Road and North 15th Street.
- 1050N between South 11th Street and South Fifth Street.
- WHITE WILLOW LANE and LOMBARDY COURT in Tamarack.
- WESTCHESTER AVE. between South Calumet Road and South Second Street.
- WESTCHESTER COURT, east of South Calumet Road.
- CANDLEWOOD COURT in Chestnut Hill.
To date, the Town of Chesterton has applied for 11 Community Crossings grants and been awarded all 11, for a total of $3,065,228.16 in 50/50 funding. Most of those moneys have been used for re-paving but a good chunk—around a quarter of a million dollars—was used some years ago to build a new bridge culvert over Sand Creek on East Porter Ave.
