The paving season is upon us.

Street Commissioner John Schnadenberg told the Redevelopment Commission at its meeting Monday night that the re-surfacing of Council Drive and Plaza Drive should begin late this week or bright and early next week.

“We’ll have quite a bit of manpower to maintain traffic and keep businesses open,” Schnadenberg said.

Both paving projects are being funded with tax increment financing moneys, at an estimated cost of $69,100 for Council Drive and $78,000 for Plaza Drive.

The next projects immediately on tap:

•East Porter Ave. from the water tower east of C.R. 250E. Estimated cost: $125,000.

•Fifth Street and 1050N by the Duneland Trails subdivision.

In the next week or so the Street Department will also begin some crack sealing and preventive maintenance of the following roadways, Schnadenberg said:

•Broadway from Eighth Street west to 19th Street.

•North Jackson Blvd. from Broadway north to the railroad tracks.

•1100N from 100E west to Fifth Street.

•Indian Boundary Road from Ind. 49 east to a point just past the traffic light at the intersection of Sand Creek Drive North.

Meanwhile, the sidewalk replacement season is also in full swing, with crews currently at work on their fourth block, on Eighth Street.

“We’ll do a couple of more on Fifth Street and that will wrap it up,” Schnadenberg said.

The Street Department did save a bunch, he added, in using a new technique to fix a tripping-hazard sidewalk on Brown Court. In this case, the sidewalk had not buckled but sunk. To fix the problem without having to replace the entire panel, holes were drilled in the sidewalk, liquid concrete pumped through the holes, and the whole section raised to grade.

Schnadenberg told the Chesterton Tribune that the technique probably saved 50 percent from the cost of replacing the whole panel.

Posted 5/30/2012