Long-awaited improvements to the Odon-Cannelburg Road (CR 900E) are on the horizon.

Daviess County Commissioners met with consultants from Bernardin Lochmueller and Associates and the Indiana Department of Transportation on Friday morning to discuss the upcoming project(s).

A year ago local officials contracted with Bernardin Lochmueller to study road improvements for the entire stretch — about 12.5 miles from U.S. 50 in Cannelburg to SR 358 in Odon, and to also breakdown the needed improvements into different smaller sections for affordability purposes.

Federal funds, totaling $2.245 million, have already been secured for improvements to a 1.5 mile stretch from just south of CR 450N to south of CR 600N, a high-traffic area near Dinky’s Auction Barn. The county’s match for funding could vary between 10 and 20 percent.

Design and environmental work will begin soon and construction on that first section should begin in 2012.

The current two-lane asphalt roadway varies in width from 20 to 22 feet, with minimal or no shoulders. Improvements would give the road two 12-foot travel lanes, with 8-foot side shoulders for buggy traffic, for 40-feet of paved surface.

Safety is the main concern in making the road a priority for improvements, said Dominick Romano, a consultant with Bernardin Lochmueller. An unusually high mix of commercial and horse-drawn buggies make the road more dangerous than most. From 2002 to 2007, there were 81 reported accidents on CR 900E, including two fatalities involving buggies and 12 other buggy accidents. Traffic data from 2007 reported 1,500 vehicles a day travel the road, 23 percent of which are trucks.

The road also has two sharp S-curves and numerous hillcrests.

A year ago when county officials looked at the entire project, local costs were estimated to be $7.9 million. However, commissioners and council members are now pleased that due to a decision by INDOT on how to use federal funds, local costs would be lower — about $4.5 million for the entire 12.5-mile project.

Right-of-way would need to be purchased, utilities may be moved, but no homes, churches or cemeteries would need to be relocated, consultants said.

Officials decided Friday to ask for plus-or-minus $300,000 more in federal money for the first phase.

Sheriff Steve Cox told commissioners he hoped they intended to keep the current speed limits on the road after improvements. “I don’t want to see it turned into a speedway,” Cox said.

Additional speed limits, horse-drawn carriage caution signs, center striping, including no-passing zones, were part of the miscellaneous improvements identified by consultants as necessary.

Don Graber, a vice-president from Graber Post Buildings, one of the biggest commercial users of the road, commented that signs on the road were inadequate.

The county, however, has $640,000 in stimulus money set aside for more immediate improvements to the road, including signage, widening some areas and new surfacing.