Sept. 7, 2004 

By Kathy Ceperich / Post-Tribune correspondent

PORTER — Trail enthusiasts see the new Porter bike trail as an alternate route for travel that will have the added benefit of decreasing local air pollution from cars.

Town officials see the trail as an enhancement of their community’s quality of life.

Those entrusted with preserving green spaces see the proposed trail as a bit of both.

And, for some, the trail will be an intrusion into their front yards of their homes.

Despite the mixed reaction to the $2.4 million proposal, progress on the three-mile trail is inching forward.

The project has required joint cooperation between Porter and neighboring town Chesterton and the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

The Lakeshore and Porter groups recently entered an agreement committing the Lakeshore’s $307,000 to the town for the nearly two miles of trail that will connect Howe Road to U.S. 12 near Mineral Springs through the Lakeshore.

“Crossing U.S. 20 and U.S. 12 will be a challenge,” said Lakeshore Assistant Superintendent Garry Traynham.

The two federal highways are regular routes for trucks and speeders and Traynham said an overhead crosswalk is being considered to provide safe crossing for the trail users. He said the trail would cut through the woodsy areas north of Oakhill Road.

The trail will link a series of trails that will connect from Portage to Michigan City.

In Porter, the town’s Redevelopment Commission is handling the project, including seeking grants to help the financially-strapped town come up with the $400,000 match for the Transportation Enhancement grant that will pick up 80 percent of the project cost.

They are seeking a grant consultant they hope will help them raise funds for additional projects in the future.

“I would like to see us start construction of the uncontested parts of the trail,” Redevelopment Commissioner and Town Council member Paul Childress said.

The trail is proposed to connect to the Prairie-Duneland Trail at 15th Street in Chesterton, follow Wood Street to downtown Porter, eventually connecting to Howe Road and Mineral Springs Road before reaching Lakeshore property.

The contested area is through the downtown. Small setbacks have many of the older homes nearly hugging town right-of-way. Residents are concerned the trail would bring strangers up to their bedroom windows.

The road with the widest right-of-way, Indiana Street, has been selected for the trail path, despite some opposition from local residents.

The town is simultaneously proceeding with a second major non-vehicular access route, the Waverly Road Pedestrian Pathway. They recently contracted engineers Haas & Associates, Michigan City, to design the trail that will proceed west along Woodland, from League Lane to Waverly Road, and down Waverly across U.S. 20.

“I would like to see them take it all the way across U.S. 12,” Childress said about the $1 million project.

The next meeting of the Redevelopment Commission is 6 p.m. Sept. 14.