City wants to put bikers, hikers in the loop

This story ran on nwitimes.com on Monday, March 21, 2005 12:04 AM CST

VALPARAISO | If you plan to develop a pathway system in a city, a good place to start would be a path that is simple yet connects to 23 points of interest or desired destinations.

In the pathway master plan developed for the city by Lehman & Lehman, such a path is called the "priority loop." It starts at Foundation Meadows Park on Campbell Street and goes south to Chicago or Jefferson streets, east to Roosevelt Road, north to Vale Park Road and west back to Campbell.

Along its 6 1/4-mile route, the priority loop provides access to 10 schools and 10 parks and community centers, in addition to a couple of major shopping areas. It also will connect with the Lakewood Link path at Foundation Meadows, which goes to Rogers Lakewood Park.

Construction of the loop is expected to begin this year when the city's Redevelopment Commission builds Vale Parkway, the extension of Vale Park Road between Campbell and Valparaiso Street. The commission will pay for the section of the pathway on Vale Parkway and will extend the Lakewood Link from Foundation Meadows down to connect with the new path.

After that, paying for the pathway and any of the other proposed routes in the plan will be a matter of finding the funding. The consultants estimated the cost of building a mile of concrete pathway at $250,000, which means the priority loop could cost more than $1.5 million, not counting land acquisition, engineering and any other costs. Other types of pathways would be less expensive.

"We've identified the loop because it meets many of the criteria set up in the pathways study," Assistant Parks Director Carol Costakis said. "We are still going through the process of presenting the plan to the city's Plan Commission and the council. In the meantime, we are moving along with the next step, which is to hire a consultant to do the engineering and cost analysis of the loop.

"Then, where we go and how we fund it is the challenge of the city and the Parks Department," Costakis said. "We will look at grants and look to see if any of the routes tie in with any public works projects that are going on, any redevelopment projects or private developments. Through this initiative we hope to go to all these partners to see how we can go about it and how we can fund it.

"By having this as part of the citywide plan, we will be watching to see what's happening elsewhere in the city, and we could get parts of the plan done here and there. It will happen as other parts of the city develop. We started with the loop to give us a sense of direction to see what we can do as a city and a park department to put it together."

Mayor Jon Costas said when the mayor of Carmel is trying to recruit a new business to move to his city, the first thing he shows them is the pathway system on the old Monon Railroad right of way and how people of all ages and sizes use it.

"Pathways are becoming an increasingly vital part of recreation plans, and they are also related to economic development," Costas said. "They are a high priority for citizens in terms of what they want to see in our parks. The whole discussion of funding is just beginning now.

"It all starts with a conceptual, and that's why we engaged Lehman & Lehman, and they have done an outstanding job of showing how pathways can encourage a more active lifestyle," he said. "Linear parks are very popular. It's hard to bike around the city, and, if it were made safer, more people would take advantage of it to connect with our parks and businesses. There are many benefits from this."

Costakis said, "Our vision is to create a signature pathway system to and through the Valparaiso area, linking people to people and people to places. We are moving the process forward, and we want to make sure everything is in place. Can I say we will break ground on any other component? I can't say that. It's more than just drawing a line on a map.

"We are working with (the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission) as part of the Ped and Pedal Committee to see what's available, how other communities have done it and what the funding sources are. There are different pathway systems in place, and we want to share our plan with NIRPC so we become part of the regional plan.

"We are going to have to figure out how to accomplish this and look at the big picture of what are all the city's other plans and priorities and how we are going to move this forward," she said.

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