June 15, 2004
| By Sharlonda L. Waterhouse / Post-Tribune staff writer |
MERRILLVILLE — Avid biker Ray Mikulka, 64, jokes that he has a “death wish.”
To access the regional bike trail, he pedals up 73rd Avenue or Whitcomb Street — which he sneeringly refers to as “suicide road.” Neither road has shoulders for bikers, and cars often speed past.
“The access points are risky, Mikulka said.
Soon, that could change. Town Councilman and Plan Commission member Shawn Pettit said he hopes two key developments planned off U.S. 30 will feature paved access to the bike trail.
Pettit said the town will ask developers of Creekwood Crossings and the old Broadmoor golf course area to set aside land for new access points. It could cost between $10,000 and $20,000, Pettit said, “ (But) for the health, safety and general welfare of the community, that’s not too much.”
The matter will be discussed tonight at the 6:30 p.m. plan commission meeting at Town Hall, 7820 Broadway.
“We will ask the developers to make the access points part of their infrastructure,” Pettit said.
He said town policies mandate that five percent of a subdivision be reserved for park and recreational uses. “This could be treated as a linear park,” Pettit said. “We’d ask them for a strip 25-feet wide.”
The bike trail will trace the north border of Broadmoor and the south border of Creekwood.
Mitch Barloga, transportation planner for the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission, said residents already illegally bike through Broadmoor to get to the trail.
Pettit said he too has noticed the bikers’ cars parked at Broadmoor.
“It’s trespassing, but that’s the only safe way,” Barloga said.
For many Merrillville residents there’s no good way to get on the trail unless you’re willing to strap your bicycle onto the car and drive. And then, would you bother with driving your family, including little kids and their bikes?
Mikulka doesn’t think so. It’s cumbersome. He said with more than 1,000 homes in the Crescent Lake, Lincoln Gardens, Young America, South Brook and Independence Hill subdivisions, you’d think families would have proper trail access within half a mile or a mile of their homes.
“I’m a biker, I know how difficult it is. There’s no safe way for a person with children to get on the bike trail,” Mikulka said.
Those who don’t use Whitcomb Street or 73rd Avenue often take 91st Avenue and dangerously cross U.S. 30.
“The town is spending a quarter of a million dollars on new trucks, but extending the bike trail and adding access roads would only cost a few thousands. I wrote letters to representatives about this two years ago. I’ve heard nothing,” Mikulka said.
He plans to attend the plan commission meeting and hopes other bikers do, too.
Reporter Sharlonda L.
Waterhouse at 648-3107
The meeting is at the Town Hall at 7820 Broadway.