http://www.post-trib.com/cgi-bin/pto-story/news/z1/10-05-04_z1_news_17.html

Bike plan gets rolling with $825,000

Oct. 5, 2004

By Andy Grimm / Post-Tribune staff writer

GARY — An $825,000 state grant has the city rolling forward with plans 
for a very long bike path.

Money from a state Department of Transportation grant will jumpstart 
construction of a regional network of bike trails, starting with a 
2-mile long span running from Broadway to Bridge streets along the Grand 
Calumet River, said Dorreen Carey, coordinator of the city department of 
environmental affairs.

City engineers will start planning the route and construction should 
begin on the trail next spring, Carey said.

“Right now we’ve got a line on a map that looks real good,” she said.

The 2-mile stretch, paid for by the grant, eventually will connect with 
planned extensions of the Indiana National Lakeshore trail to the east 
and bike paths and Hammond trails to the west, Carey said.

City planners envision the trails also linking together the Gary Green 
Link, a 30-mile loop of trails circling Gary.

Carey and officials from U.S. Steel have discussed potential trail 
routes near the Gary Works complex.

A likely path would follow along the Grand Calumet near the rail lines 
that weave past the mills and the South Shore Line tracks.

Carey hopes completion of the section of trail will help city officials 
when lobbying for more funds to extend existing trails, such as the 
Little Calumet path along the city’s south side.

When complete, the Grand Calumet trail will take riders past the natural 
beauty of grassy duneland swale that has largely been concealed by the 
industrial plants along the lakeshore. The increased traffic might even 
give a boost to environmental efforts in the area.

“Once people see it, they might be surprised and get interested,” she 
said. “If you can’t see it and you can’t get to it, why would you care?”

Reporter Andy Grimm

can be reached at 881-3148

or [email protected].