http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2004/09/30/news/porter_county/01c1ec2298e84bce86256f1e007e8ebc.txt

Porter bike trail will roll in phases

PORTER: Construction can start while disputed downtown route is finalized

BY BRIAN WILLIAMS
Times Staff Writer

This story ran on nwitimes.com on Thursday, September 30, 2004 12:04 AM CDT

PORTER -- The 3.5 mile bike path that will fill in the "missing link" in 
a continuous trail across northern Porter County will begin construction 
while the controversial segment through downtown Porter is ironed out.

The go-ahead to do the project in phases and to start the first phase 
was received Wednesday from the Indiana Department of Transportation, 
according to Bill Sexton, president of the town's redevelopment commission.

INDOT administers the federal grant money that will provide 80 percent 
of the estimated $2.4 million cost of the project.

Project engineer Matt Keiser of the Duneland Group said that 
construction could begin as early as next spring but that a summer start 
was more realistic. A required environmental study by the state's 
Department of Natural Resources can begin almost immediately, he said.

The trail's first phase will run from the Calumet Trail at the Dune 
Acres South Shore station and follow Howe Road and Beam Street to Wagner 
Ave. Bridges over U.S. 12 and U.S.20 will be a major element of the 
work, Keiser said.

The path's downtown segment, which is mandated by the terms of the 
federal grant, has met opposition from some residents. The original 
proposal to use Beam Street was switched to Indiana Avenue and that 
route was approved by the redevelopment commission.

But other alternatives are still being considered, Sexton said, because 
Indiana Avenue residents maintain that an 8-foot wide concrete path 
along the public rights of way would leave them with little yard area 
and safety concerns.

Sexton said he has been talking with town of Chesterton officials about 
the possibility of reviewing the path of a short link from that town. A 
change there could avoid Porter's residential area while still meeting 
the requirements of the grant.

The project will connect the Prairie Duneland Trail at Jackson Park in 
Chesterton to the Calumet Trail and create a continuous path from 
Portage to Michigan City.

Brian Williams can be reached at [email protected] or (219) 
462-5151, ext. 348.