INDOT Awards Over $10 million in Grants for Road, Bridge Projects in Monroe, Surrounding Counties

In Fiscal Year 2026, communities in Monroe and neighboring counties received more than $10 million from the Community Crossings Matching Grants program, an initiative that helps cities, towns, and counties maintain roads and bridges across Indiana. 

In December 2025, the Indiana Department of Transportation announced more than $5.1 million in FY 2026 awards for communities in Monroe, Lawrence, Greene, Owen, Morgan, Brown, and Jackson counties. The declaration came after House Enrolled Act 1461 cut CCMG funding from $150 million to $100 million, reduced maximum awards from $1.5 million to $1 million, and condensed two application periods into one window.

However, in June 2026, Indiana Governor Mike Braun announced more than $84 million in additional grants, giving more communities in Monroe and surrounding counties over $4.9 million, and bringing the state total to more than $165 million for FY 2026 projects.

“The additional $75 million from the General Assembly, plus cost favorability from the initial call for projects, is allowing more locals to improve transportation infrastructure in their communities,” said INDOT Commissioner Lyndsay Quist in a news release.

More than 20 CCMG awards enabled Monroe, neighboring counties, and local municipalities to invest in infrastructure that supports economic development, job growth, and transportation networks. Bloomington and Monroe County each received the maximum $1 million award.

“It allows all of us to do way more than we could any other way,” said Kendall Knoke, project engineer for the City of Bloomington. “And the nice thing about it is, it’s quick. You get the award, and you do maintenance and improvements in your community, and everybody sees that right away.”

About CCMG

Since 2016, the CCMG program has provided more than $2 billion for road and bridge improvement projects in Indiana, with grant applications open to all local government units statewide. Eligible projects include road and bridge preservation, material costs for chip sealing and crack filling operations, and ADA-compliant improvements associated with preservation projects.

“You can’t build a new road, but you can repair roads with [the award],” said Brian Sowder, superintendent of the Lawrence County Highway Department. “So we picked three roads that needed to be paved, and we applied for them.”

Grant applicants must have current, approved Asset Management Plans — which are submitted to the Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) at Purdue University once a year — and match the funding based on population. Cities and towns with fewer than 10,000  people and counties with fewer than 55,000 people receive an 80/20 match, while cities and towns with over 10,000 people and counties with over 55,000 people get a 50/50 match, according to HEA 1461.

“It doubles what we’re capable of doing,” said David Flinn, street commissioner for the City of Bedford. “It’s even better for the smaller communities and the counties with fewer than 55,000 because they’re getting an 80/20 match. If we were in that category, we could do a lot of roads. But our city happens to be right above the threshold.”

INDOT announces awards within a few months of the application deadline. CCMG applicants must be shovel-ready because they have to secure contracts within three months of receiving award letters. The upcoming submission deadline for FY 2027 is September 30.

“It is critical for us to know as soon as possible after the application period if we’ve received the funding,” said Knoke. “Especially now that they’re doing them in September. That means that we only have until December to get our funding sources squared away before everything resets at the end of the year.”

Bloomington

Before the HEA 1461 changes, Knoke noted that Bloomington usually applied for and received $750,000 from each application period for a total of $1.5 million in a fiscal year. INDOT initially denied the city’s $1 million request in FY 2026, but later awarded the money in the surprise second round.

With the 50/50 match, Bloomington spent $2 million on maintenance for Patterson Drive, Rogers Street, Grimes Street, and Kirkwood Avenue. However, Knoke attested that the CCMG work was part of a $4.68 million project aimed at eliminating traffic fatalities and incapacitating injuries by 2039.

“CCMG pays for basically the asphalt mill and overlay, and there’s a few other things that they’ll cover that are strictly maintenance related,” he said. “They will not pay for any kind of improvements or changes or anything like that. So that’s where our other funding sources come in. But with a project this size, you get a lot of cost savings from scale.”

Additional safety work included curb ramp reconstruction, signal replacements, sidewalk upgrades, raised truck aprons, and pedestrian refuge islands. Bloomington used several other funding sources, such as public works, city council bonds, council sidewalk funds, and engineering safety funds. Knoke expects the project to be done by the end of October.

“These are well-trafficked roads in our community,” he said. “If you go along Grimes, even though it’s not finished, you can see grass buffers between the sidewalk and the road. When people are walking with their kids or biking or walking by themselves, they have this little buffer between them and the road and a full-height curb. They didn’t have that before. They were right along the edge of the road. That’s such a sigh of relief if you're walking with a child.”

For FY 2027, Bloomington is applying for the maximum $1 million award to help pay for maintenance on North Walnut Street, North College Avenue, and North Dunn Street.

Lawrence County

In Lawrence County, INDOT also denied Sowder’s first application for CCMG funds in FY 2026. The county later received $820,814.64 after Braun’s unexpected announcement in June. With the 80/20 match, the county project’s total cost reached about $1 million.

The CCMG award enabled Lawrence County to pave an additional 12 miles of roads beyond normal capacity, including 5.7 miles of Stumphole Bridge Road, 3.1 miles of Powerline Road, and about 3 miles of Sieboldt Quarry Road. Sowder relayed that gas and wheel tax revenues usually restrict paving to about 18 miles across three districts per year.

“[With CCMG], you’re basically competing with all the counties, cities, and towns in Indiana,” he said. “[INDOT] called us because we had a good packet and said, ‘Put out your roads, and you'll get your award letter and how much you get.’ So that worked out to our advantage.”  

Matching funds for the project came from Lawrence County’s motor vehicle highway funds, which are sustained by gas and wheel tax revenues. With the work already done, Sowder’s focus is now on the FY 2027 application. He plans to continue asphalt paving projects and complete the same amount of roadwork.

”It’s additional money that we get to put in the community, so better roads for better travel,” Sowder said. “It’s hard to pave a bunch of roads in the county when we’re budgeted on gas and wheel taxes.”

Sowder also mentioned that Lane Mile Direct Distributions established by Senate Enrolled Act 179 will affect CCMG awards in the future. Communities that collect a wheel and vehicle excise tax will see dispersed LMDD funds subtracted from their maximum CCMG award to determine CCMG amount eligibility. 

Bedford

Bedford received $498,200.70 in CCMG funds in the bonus round of applications after INDOT denied the city’s initial request. The city project’s total price tag was about $996,400 with the 50/50 match.

Flinn explained that Bedford used the CCMG funds for asphalt mill and overlay resurfacing on 17 deteriorating roads, including White’s Point, Oak Manor Road, Becky Skillman Way, and Beech Street. Crews also worked on sections of D Street, G Street, and 21st Street.

“I go through a process, it’s quite involved, where I have to grade the roads and give detailed estimates on the cost and everything to estimate what it’s going to cost to repave these roads,” Flinn said. 

Flinn stated that Bedford used city street repair and maintenance funds for the matching source, and the project wrapped up in July. 

“I’ve been here for several years, and we’ve got it down to a pretty well-oiled machine as far as getting the work done,” he said.

For FY 2027, Flinn will request nearly $750,000 in CCMG funds for a $1.4 million project to pave close to 10 miles of roads.

“[INDOT] takes $100 million and looks at $250 million worth of projects and divvies up who gets what,” he said. “So we might not get funded at all, or we might get funded a partial amount, or they might tell us no and come back and tell us yes.”

CCMG Applications for FY 2027

Indiana cities, towns, and counties have until 5 p.m. EDT on September 30 to submit their CCMG applications through the INDOT ITAP Portal for FY 2027. The CCMG website offers several resources to help communities apply, including an FAQ section and a guidance document.

FY 2026 Awards

Communities in Monroe and surrounding counties received 10 CCMG awards in June 2026:

• Bloomington: $1,000,000
• Seymour: $830,053.97
• Lawrence County: $820,814.64 
• Owen County: $790,594.46
• Bedford: $498,200.70
• Martinsville: $267,459.79
• Morgantown: $266,600
• Oolitic: $155,086
• Nashville: $161,676.69 
• Ellettsville: $118,267.40 
• Total: $4,908,753.65

Communities in Monroe and surrounding counties received 13 CCMG awards in December 2025:

• Monroe County: $1,000,000
• Jackson County: $934,302.80
• Linton: $630,988
• Mooresville: $572,983.64
• Morgan County: $451,430.90
• Bloomfield: $315,901.32
• Brown County: $315,515.20
• Crothersville: $207,667.20
• Jasonville: $205,054.32
• Spencer: $179,083.32
• Paragon: $175,906.38
• Mitchell: $93,787.20
• Newberry: $42,018.16
• Total: $5,124,638.44
• Grand Total for FY 2026: $10,033,392.09