VALPARAISO | The Indiana Department of Transportation plans to award a contract for the improvement of North Calumet Avenue next April. The city hopes it will be earlier.

Chief Deputy City Engineer Tim Burkman said field checks, one of the many steps required before bids can be sought, were done this week. The city plans to widen the road between Vale Park Road and Bullseye Lake Road by adding a center turn lane and then remill and repave the existing road.

The million-dollar project, 80 percent of which is being paid with federal funds, also will include enclosing the ditch on the west side and installing a storm sewer. Also on the west side, decorative lighting and a sidewalk will be installed, and the parks department will be planting trees. No work is planned on the east side.

A couple of improvements will be made this year in preparation for the project. The city recently accepted the completed portion of Cumberland Crossing Drive, which is the new main entrance to the redeveloped shopping center, and hired DLZ to design a traffic signal for the new intersection with Calumet.

The signal, which will be funded by the city's Redevelopment Commission, will be designed with the upcoming improvements in mind. A cost estimate for the project is expected for the commission's May 8 meeting.

The commission also agreed to pay Delta III Inc., of Hanna, $44,849 to extend the 30-inch storm sewer installed for the new YMCA being built at Cumberland Crossing. Delta is the contractor installing the storm sewer for the Y, and the extension will carry the water from Calumet to the new detention ponds west of the shopping center.