By Erik Potter, Post-Tribune staff writer
PORTAGE -- Ready or not, here the stimulus comes.
The Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission is making moves to finalize which road projects will get funded with the approximately $21.5 million that will be coming to the urban areas of Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties.
NIRPC staff have whittled down the funding request list, orignally more than $300 million long, down to about $135 million, by cutting out projects that were ineligible or didn't appear to be shovel ready.
NIRPC staff will be hosting an ad hoc meeting on March 5 to pare the list down to $18 million for Lake and Porter counties and $2.5 million for the Michigan City urbanized area.
The federal government will inform the states on March 6 exactly how much money for roads they will get and the state will notify NIRPC soon after of how much is coming to them.
NIRPC officials have stressed the urgency of moving quickly to identify potential projects, since the stimulus money comes with a one-year, use-it-or-lose-it deadline.
In addition to money for roads, Northwest Indiana also will receive about $15 million for transit funding for the area's bus systems and the South Shore railroad.
Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott Jr., said that he is looking to see if extra stimulus money might be enough to keep the Hammond Transit System open a while longer.
Hammond slashed funding for the bus agency, which is set to close its doors at the end of June. A cash infusion might help prolong its life, however.
"If more stimulus money came in, of course that would make a difference (in what we do)," McDermott said. "When we shut down the Hammond health clinics, we knew there was a safety net. The law said the county had to provide that service. The problem with transit is there is no safety net. If we take this service away, these people fall on their face."
McDermott stressed that the stimulus funding would be a temporary solution, but one that might last long enough until a permanent, regional transportation solution is found.