MICHIGAN CITY — Double tracking of the South Shore Line through Michigan City took one step closer to becoming a reality on Tuesday as the Common Council voted 8-1 to pass a resolution supporting an operating agreement with the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District.
Now, NICTD President Mike Noland said he can take this agreement to the state in search of funds to make the estimated $250 million project happen.
Half of the project funds are expected to come from federal money while the other half has only been explained to this point as coming from "state and local funds."
"I'm already having discussions with key members in leadership and they understand the project. We're working to get this in their budget this year. It's a budget year in Indiana so this is the year – 2017 – to get the money," Noland said in an interview following the vote.
At this point, however, he hasn't been able to give an estimate as to how much the city will be expected to pay. But he also is unsure of NICTD's financial burden to the project.
"I would love to say NICTD has the capital resources to contribute (aside from 20 percent of the $4 million study)," Noland said. "But actual construction dollars — we're going to need that heavy lifting from the state."
He was pleased with the vote, however, saying the entire region from Hammond to South Bend will benefit from this double track system. But Michigan City is a linchpin in that success, he said.
The sole nay vote on Tuesday came from Councilman Ron Hamilton Jr., whose Third Ward constituents are among those affected by the project.
When asked why he voted against the project, Hamilton said he felt there were better ways to go about the double track project than the one proposed in the operating agreement.
"We're taking out 100 homes when we had an option to take out five," he said. "We're displacing more people than we need to and we're closing off more streets than we need to. It's disruptive for the majority of citizens."
As it is, 13 intersections stand to become dead-end streets at 10th and 11th streets: Carlon, Donnelly, Claire, Kentucky, Tennessee, Elston, Manhattan, Buffalo, Pine, Spring, Cedar, York and Maple.