SCHERERVILLE | A rough stretch of Schererville roadway could be rebuilt some time this year.

The town wants to bid out a project this summer that would reconstruct a 1.1-mile length of St. John Road, Public Works Director Jeff Huet said.

The street will be rebuilt from the base up, and the improvements will include new curbs, some sidewalks, storm sewer work and a section of water line rehabilitation, Huet said.

Crews will rebuild St. John Road from U.S. 30 to about 300 yards south of 77th Avenue. During the anticipated four-month construction time frame, the road will be open to local traffic only, Huet said.

The project will straighten out the St. John Road S-curve a little and expand the lanes to provide one northbound, one southbound and one center turn lane, Huet said.

St. John Road was resurfaced in the mid-1990s.

Most of the damage it sustained is the result of increased traffic, Huet said.

"Over the past 15 years, the traffic counts on the roads have gone up considerably, especially when we got 77th (Avenue) through," he said.

Although the road is in bad shape, the town hasn't put much money toward repairs the past few years, in anticipation of this major reconstruction project. There wouldn't be a point in doing $10,000 or $15,000 in repairs, only for it to get torn up and rebuilt, Huet said.