The newest section of Capital Avenue in Mishawaka has yet to open to traffic, yet some are already disappointed with the roadway.

“We’re definitely not getting our money’s worth on this particular project,” said Ross Schott who works at Jimi’s Discount Deals off Capital Avenue at 12th Street. “I understand that the state is, shall we say cash strapped at the moment, the economy being the way it is and such but nonetheless, if we’re going to have a project like this which has been in the planning stage for so long now, I would have expected much more than just asphalt in the dirt.”

The criticism is aimed at a three mile stretch of Capital that is being rebuilt to carry traffic between the U.S. 20 Bypass and Lincolnway in Mishawaka.

Some were shocked to see that the end of the road for Capital is paved with asphalt, when the five mile stretch previously built between Lincolnway and S.R. 23 was entirely poured concrete. “Every other single stretch is concrete, poured concrete that will last into decades where asphalt will not,” said Rep. Craig Fry, (D) Mishawaka. “I don’t quite understand why and honestly they (the Indiana Department of Transportation) never included us in the discussion.”

Capital Avenue was designed to provide a link between the Indiana Toll Road to the north, and the U.S. 20 Bypass on the south, therefore it tends to attract its share of heavy truck traffic.

“I don’t see where we’re going to have the durability here, without concrete supporting these trucks that you see passing by, I would expect that we’ll be seeing a lot of pot holing and most likely within a year,” said Schott.

“There are federal standards that if we’re going to have truck traffic and that sort of thing, they have to be built to those standards so the material used is kind of irrelevant as far as the capability of the highway to actually handle the traffic that’ll be on that road,” said Jim Pinkerton with INDOT’s LaPorte District.

Size provides another big difference between the new section of Capital that is under construction and those sections previously built.

The new stretch of Capital is not as wide.

The previously built road beds are wide enough to accommodate three lanes of traffic, (three northbound and three southbound) although they’re currently marked for just two lanes.

The new stretch of roadway is just two lanes wide with a two foot shoulder.

“Traffic projections that we have show that a four lane highway will actually handle the travel needs through this area for approximately the next 10 to 20 years, so to be good stewards of those dollars we decided that we were going to build it for what the capacity need is going to be for the next 20 years and not over-build at this time,” said Pinkerton.

Even with the changes, the latest Capital construction project carries a price tag of $33 million.

The second of Capital between the U.S. 20 Bypass and 12th Street is expected to be open by the end of the summer of 2012.

The section between 12th and Lincolnway will take longer because it involves building a railway underpass.