Columbus will be making its first down payment on the overpass project soon.

The city must raise $15 million dollars for its share of the estimated $30 million project to put an overpass into the downtown area. That project will lift traffic over the railroad tracks at Jonathan Moore Pike and State Road 11.

City Council last night approved moving $5.5 million in funds from the Cummins Tax Increment Financing district on Central Avenue into the overpass fund. Previously the city has moved $4 million from the downtown TIF district to support the overpass project.

Tax Increment Financing districts are areas of the community where rising property taxes are harvested to be used for infrastructure or other spending to benefit redevelopment efforts in those districts.

Heather Pope, the city’s redevelopment director, said the first payment to INDOT of $10 million dollars will be due on Dec. 15th. The payment will help fund INDOT’s planning and engineering for the project, Pope said. The second payment of $5 million will not be due until the project begins seeking bidders in 2019.

Money for the first payments will come from the city and from Bartholomew County donations. County officials have pledged $1.5 million to support the project with their first payment due later this month. City officials said that city has not yet received the actual cash from the county but an interlocal agreement has been approved and the payment is expected by Nov. 15th.

The railroads have also pledged money to support the project.