By Keith Benman, Times of Northwest Indiana
keith.benman@nwi.com
The four-year Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan draft released this week includes a $12.7 million interchange project at Ind. 49 and Vale Park Road, where a South Bend hospital has proposed building a new one.
Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas said building a full-fledged intersection with ramps there has been talked about for years. Right now, traffic on and off Ind. 49 is only controlled by a traffic light.
"It's been an issue of safety there for many, many years," Costas said. "This project will save lives."
It also will help develop the area between Vale Park Road and County Road 500 North, which the city considers a prime area for future development, Costas said.
The draft plan issued by the Indiana Department of Transportation also includes an $8.8 million project to install a pumping station on the Borman Expressway at Kennedy Avenue, an area that flooded in two successive years, closing the important artery into and out of Chicago.
Another Northwest Indiana project is in Crown Point, where turn lanes and other improvements will be added where Ind. 53 (Broadway) intersects with 113th Avenue, 109th Avenue, Summit Street and 101st Avenue. Ind. 53 will be repaved from U.S. 231 north to 93rd Avenue.
Farther south along the Interstate 65 corridor, INDOT plans an $8.4 million project to add lanes to Ind. 2.