The Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission gave a needed go-ahead Friday to a key Cline Avenue detour project.
By a 9-1 vote, the NIRPC executive board approved including the $3.4 million demolition of a Riley Road ramp and adjacent portion of the bridge in its Transportation Improvement Plan.
If the project were not added to the plan, the Indiana Department of Transportation would not be able to move forward with the demolition. That would have thrown a roadblock in the way of its overall plan for the permanent $78 million detour it is building to take the place of the closed bridge.
"The faster we can move this traffic off our city streets, the better we will be," said Al Velez, East Chicago's director of utilities. "We have semis (trucks) wandering lost through town trying to find the right street."
A traffic study released by INDOT two weeks ago shows traffic has increased dramatically on some main arteries through East Chicago since the November closure of the bridge, with a number of intersections near the breaking point.
INDOT will hold a public meeting Aug. 10 at East Chicago City Hall, where it will present a dozen options for Cline Avenue contained in the recent traffic study. Agency staff will explain the plans for Cline Avenue to the public and take their comments, according to INDOT spokeswoman Angie Fegaras.
Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. was the lone vote against including the demolition of Riley Road ramp D and its adjacent bridge section in NIRPC's Transportation Improvement Plan. He said the "nonbridge" option INDOT has selected for creating a permanent detour will not clear the truck overflow that is currently spilling onto Hammond's streets.
"I felt the best alternative was the former bridge," McDermott said immediately before the vote. "I still feel that's the best alternative."
McDermott could ask for a review of Friday's action by the full NIRPC board, but did not indicate if he would do that on Friday.
The vote was necessary because the full NIRPC board two weeks ago pulled the project from a Transportation Improvement Plan amendment. The board then asked NIRPC staff to meet with INDOT to gather more information and then bring the project back to the executive board for a vote on inclusion in the plan.
INDOT officials, including Chief of Staff Bob Zier, attended Friday's meeting and laid out the most detailed version yet of their overall plan for dealing with the failure of the 1.25-mile span over the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal.
The biggest issue cleared up was how Cline Avenue will connect with Dickey Road. Bill Meeks, INDOT technical surface director for the LaPorte District, explained that a ramp will be built from Cline over several sets of railroad tracks that cross Dickey Road. That will eliminate the traffic tie-ups currently caused by slow or stopped trains.
Meeks also showed renderings of a proposed park-like memorial for the 13 construction workers and one INDOT employee killed April 15, 1982, when nearly 450 feet of the bridge, then under construction, collapsed.