http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2004/05/07/news/region_and_state/07cdab4c7bf6e16086256e8d00149371.txt

Pedaling from Griffith to Porter County

MERRILLVILLE -- Purdue University students who designed aa proposed 11-mile bike trail for the abandoned C&O railroad corridor in Lake County had firsthand knowledge of the region's needs.

Three of the five students working on the project are from Lake County. Bernie Dahl, associate professor and chair of the Landscape Architecture program at the West Lafayette campus, guided the students, who all graduate next week, through the project.

Area residents appeared to like the plans that were presented Thursday at the Lake County Central Library. The trail would provide a continuous bike/pedestrian path between Griffith and Lakes of the Four Seasons.

The trail proposal will be turned over to Mitch Barloga, transportation coordinator for the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission. It will be up to NIRPC to proceed with plans to build the pathway and secure funding. It is estimated the cost of the project would be around $9 million. The entire corridor is owned by Northern Indiana Public Service Co.

The plan has several "hot spots" that present either special challenges or are key areas, said Jay Gianotti, of Munster, who presented the plan to the public.

The hot spots include the start of the trail at Broad Street in Griffith where the architects want to create a link with the Erie Lackawana Trail and the Oak Savanna Trail; Innsbrook Country Club; the trail's intersections with Madison Street, Turkey Creek and the intersection of Broadway and 73rd Avenue; the tunnel under Interstate 65; running the trail along the U.S. 30 corridor to Westfield Shoppingtown Southlake and The Crossings of Hobart; and the area of County Line Road where the trail dead-ends at private property.

Creating a connection to Doubletree Lake Estates and Lakes of the Four Seasons are also challenges.

Gianotti said because the corridor near the mall is so busy, the trail could provide an alternative to driving. The plan calls for running the trail between Barnes & Noble and Nevada Bob's, on the north side of U.S 30 and between Bank One and Burger King on the south side, leading directly to the mall food court.

Students even tinkered with the idea of running the trail into the mall. From the mall, the trail would run east behind Target and Home Depot on the south side of U.S. 30 all the way to Colorado Street.

"I think that trail through the mall will put this place on the map," Dahl said.

Rodney Graves, of Gary, a member of Calumet Citizens for Connecting Communities, which sponsored the meeting, said the region has been industrialized for so long people will have to be pushed to see the vision of this plan.

Robert Huffman of Merrillville, an avid bicyclist, said getting people across U.S. 30 may not be as difficult as people predict. He noted that in Chicago, people cross Lake Shore Drive from Buckingham Fountain to reach the lakefront trail and eight lanes of traffic stop for them.

"Probably a lot of traffic that goes through here is local traffic and they'll get used to it too," Huffman said.

Elizabeth Eaken can be reached at [email protected] or (219) 933-4183.