It's hard to find one word to describe the Indiana Department of Transportation's plan to replace the Cline Avenue extension.
So here are several words: thoughtful, fast, pragmatic, feasible, futuristic and green.
The plan calls for enhancing Dickey and Riley roads, remaking a number of ramps and -- finally -- the demolition of the closed behemoth that is the extension.
INDOT staffers, in four short months, have matched the needs of the region -- traffic flow, jobs, business -- along with state budget constraints.
The key change is there will be no replacement bridge over the Indiana Harbor Canal. The cost and timeline for replacement simply didn't match the needs.
The original Cline extension was built for 100,000 vehicles a day, mostly for shift work and shipments from the region's steel mills. With the decline of jobs and shipping over 30 years, the need for a full-on Cline extension replacement dissipated.
The new plan meets new needs.
It enhances existing roads and adds acres of green space where none now exist.
That's where the words futuristic and green come into play. Plans call for plantings of trees and bushes that help scrub the soil of pollutants and clean the air.
The plan also calls for green shields of plants and flowers to line parts of the enhanced roadways to shield the industrial blight and enhance the scenery.
As it stands, the cost of $75 million plus -- with funds already dedicated -- comes in much lower than the quarter-billion dollars the extension cost nearly 30 years ago.
Community leaders came together in a rare gathering of regional wisdom, and the state answered.
Going back to December, it's hard to imagine all the cohesion and work that has taken place.
But this plan is a reminder that government can work.