U.S. Rep. Mike Pence secured the $1.245 million grant from a house transportation subcommittee. Ball State will provide 20 percent matching funds.

“We want to thank Congressman Pence for his great efforts on the university’s behalf,” said Ball State President Blaine A. Brownell. “This is an important safety project in the heart of our campus, but it also benefits the city of Muncie.”

The grant will extend the McKinley/Riverside Avenue Safety Improvement Project, which previously received $8.3 million in federal funding in 1998.

Ball State and Muncie leaders are currently working together on designs for the initial phase of the project and hope to get state approval for the plan so construction can begin next fall. The bulk of the work would start in spring 2003.

The project will include moving utilities, improving drainage, street lights and traffic signals, rebuilding curbs, gutters, sidewalks and streets, plus adding sidewalks and new crosswalks along McKinley and Riverside avenues.

“We are extremely pleased to receive the additional funding, because it will allow us to extend work on city streets, especially parts of Riverside and Neely avenues, that were not in the scope of the initial grant,” said Jim Lowe, director of engineering and facilities assessment at Ball State, who is managing the project for the university.

By Glenn Augustine, Associate Director

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information on this story, contact Jim Lowe at (765) 285-2805 or jlowe@bsu.edu.)