At a glance

East Chicago - 14 road projects, $30.8 million, including reconstruction work on 145th Street, 151st Street, Baring Avenue, Broadway, Indianapolis Boulevard, Magoun Avenue, Main Street, Northcote Avenue, Tod Avenue.

Gary -Four road and four transit projects, $52.4 million, including Gary Green Link Phase II, Ridge Road reconstruction from Broadway to Grant Street, and six new full-size buses for Gary Public Transit.

Hammond - One project, $6.9 million, 3rd district street reconstruction.

Hobart - Four road projects, $10.5 million, including West Ridge Road widening, U.S. 30/Colorado Street intersection upgrade, and the Oak Savannah Trail Phase II.

Lake Station -Three road projects, $12.5 million, including Central Avenue reconstruction/improvement

LaPorte - Four road projects, $21.5 million, including Boyd Avenue reconstruction.

Merrillville - 11 road projects, $1.7 million, including Historic District streetscape, 61st Street widening, and Colorado Street and Harms Road resurfacing.

Michigan City -Five road projects, $15.5 million, including West Beach access, Coolspring Avenue resurfacing/widening, and Ohio Street resurfacing.

Portage -Four road projects, $19.8 million, including Central Avenue reconstruction west of Willowcreek Road, and improvements on Hamstrom Road, Stone Avenue, and Swanson Avenue.

St. John - One road project, $1.6 million for town-wide road resurfacing and drainage improvements, including newly annexed areas.

Lake County - $54.1 million for 187 miles of county roads, including 109th Avenue from Colfax to Grant and Lake of the Four Seasons entrance, and $41.8 million for work and inspection of 35 bridges.

Porter County - Two road projects, $31.25 million, including extensions of Willowcreek Road from 700 North to Indiana 130 and 300 West from Indiana 130 to U.S. 30.
By Charles M. Bartholomew, Post-Tribune correspondent

PORTAGE -- Northwest Indiana cities, towns and counties have given 280 separate requests, totaling about $300 million, for projects in the national infrastructure program that is the bulk of President-elect Barack Obama's economic stimulus package.

Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission planner Gary Evers presented the list Tuesday to the agency's Transportation Planning Committee, saying he expects the list to grow before it is submitted to the Indiana Department of Transportation, which will send it on to Washington with all the other requests from Indiana.

NIRPC Planning Director Steve Strains said the Department of Transportation sent out a request in December for communities and counties to submit local projects to be put on the state list.

According to INDOT, each planning commission in the state has been asked to develop an inventory of projects for funding as soon as possible "assuming an announcement would be made Feb. 1."

INDOT spokesman Joe Gustin said, if that happens, funds could be awarded within four months.

"The Federal Highway Administration has indicated we can expect to get twice our annual entitlement from 2008, which works out to $30 million," Evers said.

"A number of lists are floating around out there, from mayors, from INDOT, from Congresspeople," he said.

Evers said until the new administration takes office, there are no details available about the infrastructure program -- no total amount, no timelines, no guidelines for priorities, no procedures for allotment and disbursement, including percentages for local matching funds.

He said, "We may have to go through the list and prioritize it, but nobody's asking us to do this yet. The state Department of Transportation hasn't told us how to filter them out."

Evers said he's heard there will be no earmarks in the program, but there will be some emphasis on transit projects.

"Just watch the news, and you'll know as soon as we do," he said.

Mitch Barloga, liaison to NIRPC's Ped, Pedal & Paddle Committee, expressed concern that sidewalks, trails and accesses receive funding consideration.
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