http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2004/04/27/news/porter_county/c826498c84e2387d86256e83000244e3.txt

Tuesday, April 27, 2004

Board to finalize bike route
PORTER: Official favors using Indiana Avenue for path

BY BRIAN WILLIAMS
Times Staff Writer


PORTER -- The downtown segment of Porter's 3.5-mile bike route that will link the Prairie Duneland Trail and the Calumet Trail will be decided upon tonight by the Redevelopment Commission.

Four streets -- Indiana, Beam, Michigan and Franklin -- are in the running to carry the path across the residential downtown area from Porter Avenue in the east to Beam Street on the west side of town.

Commission President Bill Sexton said Monday he favors Indiana Avenue because it offers the widest town-owned right-of-way, at 60 feet. The others have rights-of-way of only 50 feet. Traffic travel lanes, parking and the path must fit within that space. Another plus for Indiana, Sexton said, is that the street, which doesn't currently have sidewalks or curbs, would get them. On the downside, laying the 8-foot-wide bike path would result in the loss of a number of older trees. That would occur on any of the four streets, and the town plans to replant, he said.

At the last commission meeting, several Beam Street residents raised concerns about child safety and encroachment of concrete upon their front yards if the path went down Beam.

The trail will run from Jackson Park in Chesterton, connect with Hawthorne Park in Porter and loop along Howe Road to the Dune Acres South Shore station.

When completed, the linked trails will create a continuous biking and hiking path across the length on northern Porter County.

The commission meets at 6 tonight at Town Hall, 303 Franklin St.