Commissioners Announce Grant Awarded for Completion of Burdette Park

VANDERBURGH COUNTY
ONE N.W. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. BLVD.
CIVIC CENTER ROOM # 305
EVANSVILLE, INDIANA 47708

OFFICE OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
STEPHEN MELCHER, PRESIDENT
TROY TORNATTA, VICE-PRESIDENT
LLOYD WINNECKE, MEMBER

October 12, 2010 Contact: Commission Office
For Immediate Release (812) 435-5241

Commissioners Announce Grant Awarded for Completion of Burdette Park– USI Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Nature Trail

(Evansville, IN) – The Vanderburgh County Commissioners today announced that funding has been awarded to complete the final phase of the Burdette Park – USI Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Nature Trail. The project will be funded with $780,893 in Transportation Enhancement funding though the Indiana Department of Transportation, and $317,875 from the Surface Transportation Fund-Urban. In all, $1,098,768 is being awarded for this project. Vanderburgh County will provide a local match of $275,000.

The Commissioners first broke ground on this project in February 2007, and divided construction into four phases. Phase 1, consisting of 0.58 miles, was finished in November 2007. Phase 2, with a total of 1.15 miles running from the USI campus to approximately 1,600 feet south of Broadway Avenue, will be complete by October 25, 2010. Phase 3, the final phase, has a January 2011 bid letting and is expected to be finished by the end of 2011. Phase 4 connected the Discovery Lodge parking lot and the east end of Phase 1. This 0.12 mile portion of the trail was completed in July 2010.

The grant funds will be used to complete phase 3, the final phase of the project. Phase 3 is 0.96 miles and begins approximately 1,600 feet south of Broadway Avenue and continues southwesterly to Nurrenbern Road. When this phase is finished there will be a grand total of 2.81 miles of path connecting Burdette Park and the University of Southern Indiana.

“These additional grant funds are turning the vision for this trail into reality much sooner than anticipated” said Commissioner Tornatta. “My fellow Commissioners and I have continued seeking grant funds to build upon what current and former County Commissioners envisioned for this trail. We would also like to thank the University of Southern Indiana for its continued partnership, which helped make this wonderful asset to the west side possible. The trail helps make Vanderburgh County a better place to live, work, and raise a family, and I am personally honored to have been a part of this project.”

In addition to grant funds and local money, the University of Southern Indiana and Southern Indiana Higher Education Foundation have contributed easements to the county across land it owns.