Carmel’s Keystone Parkway project is well under way, with more than half of construction complete and the last piece of the funding puzzle almost in place — but while work continues, the city is seeking federal funding for another expensive portion of the roadway.

The city of Carmel is seeking $78.3 million to remove the traffic lights at 96th Street and Keystone Parkway and rebuild the intersection into a two-level roundabout.

“Safety is a big factor in the reason that we choose roundabouts over signalized intersections,” said Carmel City Engineer Mike McBride. “We haven’t seen a decrease in accidents. (Traffic) delay and reducing the emissions are big factors too.”

According to analysis, the new interchange would reduce the number of accidents by 360 over a five-year period, McBride said.

This project is separate from the city’s ongoing work along Keystone to rebuild six intersections into roundabout interchanges for about $112 million.

Carmel submitted its 25-page grant application in mid-September for a TIGER grant, which is part of the stimulus act. Grant recipients will by announced by Feb. 15, McBride said.

The total funding that will be distributed through the grant is $1.5 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation Web site. The amount isn’t a huge pool of funding, McBride said, considering he has heard there are applications for around 1,400 projects.

The city is paying for preliminary engineering and environmental fees in order to have the project more shovel-ready in case it receives the funding, according to the TIGER application.

About $55 million will go toward the interchange, including land purchase, construction, inspection and other fees associated with the work, the application states. Improvements to 96th Street, east and west of Keystone, will cost about $18.1 million. And work to local access support roads, to maintain access to businesses, will cost $5.3 million.

The cost of this intersection is much higher than any of the other intersections along Keystone, but it includes a lot more.

“It is larger and the design is slightly different,” McBride said. "Keystone will be going over 96th Street, rather than the cross streets going over. The land value down there is much higher, more commercial.’’

The design work is about 30 percent complete, and work continues. Mayor Jim Brainard is seeking $1.2 million in a larger bond to use toward completing the design.

The timeline listed in the application shows that right of way land acquisition would begin in February. The design would be completed in the spring, with construction beginning in late 2010 or early 2011. The project has to be substantially complete by February 2012.

“If Carmel is not successful in obtaining funding for their road project, INDOT plans to widen Keystone Avenue/Parkway to three lanes in each direction north of I-465 to 98th Street with a modernized traffic signal at 96th Street,” said INDOT spokesman Will Wingfield.

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