The Indiana Department of Transportation has published a “universe of alternatives” as part of its studies to make U.S. 30 travel faster and safer from Valparaiso east.
The ProPEL US 30 study — and a similar one for U.S. 31 — are in the second year of a three-year effort that have resulted in 55 potential solutions to address issues, needs and desired outcomes along the corridors, INDOT said Monday. The studies cover 180 miles of road across 12 counties.
“The safety, traffic flow, connectivity, access and other considerations will naturally look different among communities. Similarly, we are listening to how residents in each study area envision the corridors to reflect the character of the area,” INDOT Project Manager Sandra Flum said.
Potential improvements include location-specific improvements such as roadway lighting and addition or extension of turn lanes and acceleration lanes, as well as full corridor improvements up to conversion of the highways to limited access freeways, which INDOT acknowledges would “require extraordinarily high costs for implementation and may create severe socioeconomic and/or environmental impacts” and has “a high level of public and stakeholder interest” so will continue to be studied.
Safety enhancements could include addition of advanced warning systems and creation of new types of intersections, such as reduced conflict intersections, which reroute traffic so as not to allow vehicles on side streets to cross or turn left onto a highway; continuous-green T intersections, which allow one direction of the mainline highway to continue through a T intersection unhindered by traffic lights, and quadrant roadway intersections, which eliminate left turns at intersections by building a separate road connecting the two.
In addition to submitting comments online by visiting each of the study websites, propelus30.com and propelus31.com, study teams are visiting communities along the corridors. Dates, times and locations can be found on the project websites and social media accounts.
INDOT is inviting public feedback to the potential solutions by Dec. 22. After public feedback is evaluated, INDOT will publish a final “Universe of Alternatives” report on the project websites.
The studies, technically deemed Planning and Environmental Linkages studies are expected to be completed next year.
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