Michael Noland, president of the South Shore Line. (Michael Gard/Post-Tribune)
A federal agency’s review of the South Shore Line’s Double Track NWI has raised the project’s budget again, the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District’s board learned Monday.
The Double Track project is expected now to cost $454.7 million, South Shore Line President Michael Noland said. It had been $439 million.
Noland said the Federal Transit Administration’s review last week was the final one before the FTA grants the federal share of Double Track’s costs, which he expects this year.
Double Track includes a second set of tracks between Gary and Michigan City; new stations at Miller, Portage/Ogden Dunes and Michigan City; and an updated route through Michigan City.
Because of the project cost increase, the NICTD board voted Monday to raise, to $31.5 million, its bond issue to help cover unanticipated costs.
Double Track construction could start next summer, Noland said.
Last week, state and regional officials celebrated the FTA’s award of a $354.6 million grant for the $944.9 million West Lake Corridor Project, a new South Shore Line route from Hammond to Dyer.
The two firms that will design and build the West Lake project received their official notice to proceed soon afterward.
Also Monday, the NICTD board accepted a Gary company’s $898,561 bid for demolition work in Gary for the Double Track project. The contract will go to C. Lee Construction Services.
Other companies' bids opened recently for Double Track demolition work in Michigan City were rejected because they didn’t meet requirements. New bids will be opened before the next NICTD meeting on Nov. 30, NICTD Purchasing Manager Tony Siegmund told the board.
Also, Noland told the board that South Shore ridership now is about 20 percent of its pre-COVID levels, and he did not expect that to increase much until a cure for the disease is found.
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